§ Lord Mancroftasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of the invitation to organisations to participate in the 1991 Surplus Food Scheme in the United Kingdom.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonI announced to the House on 14th February that the Surplus Food Scheme would be continued for a further year. Following that announcement, the press coverage that attended it and the individual invitations issued by my department, we have been able to designate 774 organisations as potential participants in this year's scheme. There are approximately 3,800 tonnes of butter and 3,000 tonnes of beef available to be distributed to the most needy citizens.
Once again we have designated more organisations than in previous years in order to ensure, as far as possible, the availability of food across the country. But as the quantities are limited, it must be understood that the assistance will, necessarily, be spread even more thinly as a result. The produce will be shared as fairly as possible on the basis of an amount proportional to the number of needy people it will reach. We are giving special priority in allocating this food to organisations providing prepared meals and to those serving the homeless and destitute. In addition, in order to receive an allocation, the smallest organisations may have to co-operate this year to keep the processing and distribution costs to a minimum.
I am placing in both Libraries a list of all the organisations designated and officials will now be writing to all the organisations which applied