The annual roundtable involving those named as Public Sector Catering’s ‘Most Influential’ provides the ideas and aims for the year ahead that will be pursued by the Public Sector Catering Alliance.
The Public Sector Catering Alliance aims to foster collaboration on issues of mutual concern and serves as a focus for joint action, including liaison with Government on topics such as procurement, food standards and sustainability.
Under the leadership of Alliance chair Jayne Jones and vice chair Anita Brown, the group will be looking to adopt and develop the following key ideas:
- Re-apply to Defra for the Alliance to be given a place on the Food & Drink Sector Council (currently the public sector is represented by a company from the private sector).
- The creation of an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Public Sector Food; using the contacts and influence of caterers and suppliers to identify MPs to support it
- Collecting and collating data that shows the value of public food as part of the Government’s ambitions for growth, health, education and sustainability
- Creating positive messaging around less and better meat and greater use of beans and pulses
- Sharing innovative solutions to food service that reduce the reliance on large numbers of people and streamline production for cost efficiency.
To read more about the ‘Most Influential’ roundtable debate, read the six-page article in the February issue of the Magazine.
The principal associations driving the Alliance are: LACA, the school food people, the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO), ASSIST FM (local authority providers in Scotland), and the Professional Association for Catering Education (PACE).