Food

Introduction

The sector spends just over £2 billion on food and catering services in England and Wales but there are over 30,000 public sector organisations that place orders on a daily basis for food. Organisations such as the School Food Trust provide advice to schools on all aspects of food policy including the Government's nutritional standards for school food. School Food Trust Home Page.

In response to the National Audit Office report "Smarter Food Procurement in the Public Sector" (PDF). OGC and Department for Schools, Children and Families (DCSF) launched a collaborative food group from the major public sector procurement organisations to consider how to take the recommendations forward.

That work of the group has seen the need to develop a Food Governance model that can achieve value for money gains as well providing a quality food offer for customers that fulfils the aims of the Cabinet Office "Food Matters" Food: an analysis of the issues report.

The food strategy sets out to deliver a collaborative framework for public sector organisations to work together. It builds on their current food procurement excellence and looks to set direction and guidance for the public sector procurement of food and drink and will identify opportunities to improve Value for Money, quality of service, sustainability and customer requirements.

The Category Sponsor, a member of Strategic Stakeholder Forum for the Food Category and the Chair of the Category Board is Ian Taylor, Commercial Director of DCSF.

The food strategy is based on a collaborative participation of several key stakeholders Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), DCSF, Ministry of Defence (MOD), National Offender Management Service (NOMS), NHS Supply Chain, Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
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Participation of the wider public procurement organisation is encouraged and the food strategy relies on expert participation from procurement organisations OGC BS, Pro5, and the participation of all Local Authorities, REIPs and regional government to establish a well represented and balanced food strategy.

The outcome and deliverables of the food strategy for the public sector will be shared with public sector procurement colleagues to assist them in delivering increased VFM, higher quality service and innovation while looking to reduce costs, improve sustainability and increase the total delivery to customers.

Contact

For more information please contact the OGC Service Desk

E: servicedesk@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
T: 0845 000 4999