As my tenure starts as chair of the Public Sector Catering Alliance, I’m excited, and a little daunted, by the opportunity to support our member organisations over the next two years.
I’ve been working in catering and FM services for many years, and I’ve had the privilege of doing that across sectors: first within a local authority, and more recently within the NHS. I think that has really helped me to understand our sector better: I can see the huge similarities – the shared challenges and positive experiences that all public caterers have, as well as the differences.
There was a time when I thought the challenges we faced were generally universal, I now know that each sector is more nuanced, and whilst some sectors are affected in some ways by issues like funding challenges or legal frameworks, the impact it can have on public food systems can be very different, depending on their context.
And so that’s one of my priorities over the next two years; I want to amplify the voices of our member organisations as much as possible, to allow us to come together and highlight to decision makers where we have a shared issue or concern, and to use our size and scale as a force for change.
Be that shared concerns over recruitment, over immigration impacts on our lower paid workforce, over sustainability challenges, managing food safety risks and allergens as well as being mindful of the part we caterers have to play in prevention, and in addressing the obesity and food-related health crisis in the UK.
Although public sector caterers are an immense force, providing somewhere in the region of 2.6 billion meals each year, we can’t make change happen alone. We need to continue to work proactively with our partners, supporters, food NGOs, campaign groups, academics, suppliers and other organisations to impact our political leaders and the wider food industry, to highlight to them that change starts with us.
At the inaugural Public Sector Catering Alliance Forum in November, we heard many speakers talk about the need for food systems change, and some speakers thought that the current food system in the UK (and globally), is broken.
I don’t think that the food system is broken: I think it’s working perfectly well for certain actors within the system, who continue to make huge profits at the cost of health, food justice and equity.
At the same time, though, food sector wages for land workers remain low and consumers are pressured by highly persuasive food marketing into buying low-nutrient-dense, convenient, cheap food that makes us more ill, more obese and more reliant on medical intervention and medication to cure or manage.
We all need to pause and reflect on how we – as leaders in public food – choose to perpetuate, or disrupt the food system as it is today.
I want us all to think about the part we, and our organisations, play in the food system as it is, and what we need to commit to doing differently to create food system shifts that will lead to a food system that is more sustainable, more equitable, more just and fairer for all.
We all need to pull in the same direction, regardless of the part of the food system we operate in, to vocalise that the investment in public food really can help to reduce health inequalities, can improve access to education, can help offset the impact of climate change and address biodiversity loss, and can ensure fair employment rights for others across the food chain.
But to do that we need to re-examine how we spend the public money we are entrusted with. We need to ensure that leaders and decision makers across all of our organisations understand that an investment in public food is just that: not a cost to be managed like a budget line, but a financial investment in people and just outcomes at so many levels.
I don’t expect us to make revolutionary change in this over the next two years, but if I can help some leaders to reframe their thinking about public food then I’ll have helped us to get closer to systems change.
If we can work with our partners to ensure that governments in all parts of the UK – local, devolved, or national – recognise that they have the power to influence change, and if we can get them to look at how sustainable food places can grow, and how the legislation that is in place in Scotland and in development in Wales shows true commitment to food systems change, then we’ll be heading in the right direction.
As public caterers, we know that the fiscal framework in which we operate is very challenging, and the recent 5p per meal increase for UFSM in England shows how disconnected decision makers can be from what we need to effectively run our services.
We know that there is no magic money tree. But we work in a multi-billion-pound sector and must ensure that every penny we spend is working hard for those who benefit from our services, so we need to highlight how realigning budgets to ‘prevention’ – and public food is a key factor – will have impact.
That means we must also work with academics and research organisations to provide the evidence that shows this is the case.
And, most importantly, I want us all to think about how we make space to hear the voices of our customers: our children, young people and students, those recovering in hospital, our elderly residing in our care homes or having respite, our armed forces personnel and those in our prisons.
We need to centre their views and experiences of our services, and consider how we best meet their needs. We are at the heart of delivering a direct response to food insecurity to the most vulnerable demographics in the country, and our decision makers and politicians would do well to recognise that and to pay attention to their message about the need for systemic change.
As public caterers we have a duty to close that gap and ensure that the message is loud, clear and acted upon.
Finally, I want to say that I’m absolutely delighted Anita Brown, the immediate past chair of LACA, is stepping into the role of vice chair of Public Sector Catering Alliance. Her experience, pragmatism and commitment to children and young people is unmatched, and I know between us, and the fantastic chairs of LACA, HCA, ASSIST FM, NACC, PACE and TUCO, we will do what we can to work together to disrupt the current public food system, and create the waves of change we need.
Jayne is currently assistant director of facilities and production at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, before that she was commercial manager for Argyll & Bute Council, and has also served as chair of ASSIST FM.