I woke up this morning to an inbox full of ‘Let them eat turnips’ emails, tweets and social media posts along with seminar invites and editorials. And yet again I find myself simply flabbergasted at how this current administration is nonchalantly burying its head in the sand regarding our precious food systems and food security in the UK. At the heart of both, of course, is public food and the service we deliver day after day to keep our nation healthy.
We need safe and secure food supplies because without them public sector food will quickly fall into crisis. Escalating prices, increasing utilities, and ever-growing staff costs are all pressures you have told us about in our recent PSCA survey. You are battling with them day after day, yet as hard as we try to wake the Government up to the thin line we are walking, all we get back are ridiculous statements like ‘eat more turnips’.
Last week we held the Public Sector Catering ‘Most Influential’ round table debate at the Houses of Parliament. It was a fantastic event with industry big hitters gathered together around one table. I opened the meeting by explaining we can no longer wait for government to take the lead, we have to take matters into our own hands and fix what we can, where we can.
I was inspired by the ideas, stories of work already in hand and, of course, the huge commitment by those who had gathered and their resolve to ensure public sector caterers are heard and listened to. The services we provide are simply too important to joke over the dispatch box about. We are helping maintain the nation’s health and wellbeing, be that in a care home, a meals-on-wheels delivery, a school, a hospital, a prison, a college or a university.
The food being served can, quite literally, be life-saving. In some cases it is the medicine that not only heals but prevents further issues and avoids huge burdens and unnecessary pressure on the public purse.
So, come on ‘Gov.UK’, wake up and take our food from the farm gate to end user a wee bit more seriously or we will be in for some hefty consequences.
Our ‘Most Influential’ round table agreed on some actions for the Alliance to help it formulate a working strategy that will enable us to effect some change over the coming months. I hope you will start to hear more of our plans and the some of the outcomes as we work through these strategic ideas with smaller working groups.
Needless to say we need to educate Ministers and other key decision makers on the importance of public food. Rightly there has recently been a focus on free school meals and we welcome the Mayor of London’s one year trial to expand those, but there needs to be investment to match the food provision costs to ensure there are the staff and equipment in place to deliver those additional meals.
But the wider sector also needs assistance, particularly around recruitment and retention. We need to add value to those who work in this great industry and we need to work closely around procurement to ensure that all the sustainable actions we have taken are protected, together with our supply chains that use on regional SMEs.
The last thing we need right now are more hare-brained schemes making fat cats fatter. We want British food on public sector plates. And to do that we need to maintain close working relationships with the farmers and growers and we need to build confidence that what is grown will be bought and utilised.
If not, the Environment Secretary may end up getting her wish because turnips might be all we have to left serve!
