Written question WQ86091

Our Programme for Government acknowledges the importance of ecologically sustainable local food production and commits to developing a community food strategy to encourage the production and supply of locally sourced food in Wales. It also commits to carry out a detailed analysis of the public sector supply chains and promote the purchasing of made-in-Wales products and services.

As well as supporting families during the cost-of-living crisis, the roll out of universal primary free school meals has the potential to support a major change in policy and practice in the food system.

The boost to demand means there are huge opportunities to work with partners to increase the supply of Welsh food onto the school plate. This will shorten supply chains and reduce carbon emissions, support local food producers and distributors, and strengthen the Foundational Economy. Our conditions of grant funding to local authorities for the delivery of universal primary free school meals and our significant investment is providing a catalyst for this work to begin in earnest.

There are opportunities to learn not just from promising practice undertaken by local authorities in Wales, but from successful models of free school meal provision across the UK and around the world. There is also the potential to calibrate supply with demand and ensure more Welsh fruit and vegetables are served. Strengthening links between local producers and wholesalers can help and provide routes to market.

Our Sustainable Farming Scheme contains proposals to support farmers to diversify into alternative agricultural sectors as well as growing a greater proportion of the vegetables we eat in Wales. The scheme is currently in development and is being co-designed with the farming industry to be implemented in 2025.

Universal primary free school meals affords us the opportunity to develop a mindset that focuses on value creation through food procurement, rather than cost savings. New legal guidance on buying local and sustainable food, which will be available in the autumn, can help support this. The Social Partnership and Procurement Bill also represents a real opportunity to strengthen approaches in food procurement and data reporting.

In addition, we are planning a programme of work to support further improvements in food procurement across the Welsh public sector, ensuring a more co-ordinated and consistent approach to help get food firms ‘public sector ready’. This includes a new public sector food programme and public sector food strategy for Wales, as well as extending learning from recent local, sustainable food pilots.

We have big ambitions for the provision of universal primary free school meals in Wales. Not only is it a transformational intervention to raise the profile of healthy eating across the whole school and increase the range of food pupils eat, but in time it will also have an impact on local food supply and provide long lasting support for the Welsh economy. We will continue to encourage schools and local authorities to work with and support local food suppliers in order to provide local, sustainable food for pupils across Wales.

This work is being carried out as part of the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.