The RSPCA has welcomed the government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement as an “encouraging start”.
The organisation said it hoped it would pave the way for improvements to UK Government Buying Standards to ensure food provided in hospitals and schools was produced to higher animal welfare standards.
Defra secretary Steve Reed announced the planned changes to procurement policy at the Oxford Farming Conference last month, which are designed to ensure “farmers get a fairer share of the £5bn a year spent on public-sector catering contracts”.
The UK government’s statement was published yesterday and sets new rules for government bodies to encourage spending with smaller businesses, and voluntary enterprises.
It is also set to reform the way central government procurement considers the social value of projects.
“It’s a good, encouraging start, though with no mention of animal welfare, it’s crucial that reforms now pave the way for a significant improvement in Government Buying Standards to ensure food provided in places like schools and hospitals is produced to higher welfare standards – which is just what many taxpayers would expect,” said RSPCA head of public affairs David Bowles.
“It’s welcome that the UK government is considering the social value of its procurement too – but animal welfare needs to be part of that,” he added. “We look forward to Defra announcing its specific changes required under the procurement rules to help British farm welfare.”
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The charity believes these procurement rules should guarantee higher animal welfare standards.
The current GBS benchmark for animal welfare was set low and in sectors such as eggs, meat and chicken, welfare standards that food must be procured from were set no higher than the legal baseline, the charity said.
“We know a major overhaul of food procurement in public sector institutions is long overdue as the animal welfare rules are currently very often baseline at best,” said Bowles. “It’s unacceptable that school children or sick hospital patients may be served food that has been produced to lower welfare standards or even food illegal to produce in this country.”
The charity added that there has been no government auditing since GBS were introduced in 2014, which could mean welfare standards are even lower.
An Efra report found only 54% of hospital food was to GBS standard, and buyers were allowed to opt out of the GBS and buy from below GBS and UK baseline standards if money is tight.
“This is an opportunity for the UK government to lead by example and set the bar when it comes to sourcing high-quality, higher-welfare food for public institutions,” said Bowles.
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