NHS: Food
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the volume, proportion and value of food waste in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The National standards for healthcare food and drink include instructions on the measurement, reductions, and monitoring of food waste. Production, spoilage, unserved and plate waste are the areas of focus. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/national-standards-for-healthcare-food-and-drink/
Data on food waste at National Health Service organisations is collected through the Estates Return Information Collection and is published at the following link:
The latest available figures are for 2024/25 and were published on 16 October 2025. As per these figures, there was 11,262 tonnes of domestic waste (food) weight, which represents 3% of the total waste, 377,079 tonnes, disposed of. This domestic waste cost £1,728,839, which represents 0.9% of the total waste disposal costs of £187,804,007.
Over recent years, we have significantly improved how we measure food waste, so any apparent increases are more likely to be due to better measurement rather than an actual rise in waste produced.
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