Clive Hammond, Suffolk County Council

1

• Clive Hammond, Suffolk County Council
• Tully Wakeman, East Anglia Food Link

2
Background

• East Anglia Food Link working across the East of
  England on sustainable food procurement
• Suffolk CC engaged enthusiastically with this
  effort
• More recent ambition for Suffolk to be the
  Greenest County
• Traded services review

3
Aims and objectives?

• Original objectives (2004) more prime cooking,
  more local ingredients
• More recent objective to minimise carbon
  emissions from food distribution to schools
• Also feasibility study into use of Organic food /
  achieving Food for Life standard

4
What we did

• Local meat nominating regional suppliers of
  frozen meat into existing frozen distributors
• Required explaining requirements to suppliers,
  negotiating prices, quality, terms etc
• Fresh fruit/veg letting in 3 lots resulted in
  one farmer-greengrocer starting to supply
• Distribution feasibility study on new
  distributor. Negotiations with existing
  distributors. Review whole structure of supply
  contracts.
• Organics review menus, ingredients, suppliers.

5
Outcomes/ Benefits

• Most red meat, pork products and some veg now
  locally sourced
• Most flour is locally sourced
• Enables good PR story to parents
• Helps to maintain takeup
• Distribution project predicts carbon reductions
  of 60 in distribution phase

6
What were the challenges and how did you deal
with them?

• Suppliers can be reluctant to change their own
  sourcing, systems etc
• Answer is usually a clear statement of
  requirement from customer
• Still room to improve fruit/veg suppliers - 2 out
  of 3 - reflects problems in that industry
• Other gaps remain on supply side - eg poultry

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What have you learned? What would you do
differently?

• Scale need large regional suppliers to supply eg
  meat to a whole LEA, consistent service etc
• Quantifiable reporting need very clear data from
  suppliers about which items are local etc.
• Clear statement of requirements need customer
  (not NGO) to agree exactly what is required from
  suppliers and to make that very clear to them.
• Suppliers are not generally ready to supply
  local.
• NGO support for supply chain development.
• Blue-sky review of distribution new
  possibilities.

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Regional/ National Significance

• Suffolk and other EoE LEAs leading the field in
  terms of scale of local sourcing
• Suffolks leading-edge work on distribution,
  Organics
• Regional support EAFLs existing role
• Messages to suppliers from LEAs still disparate,
  therefore less traction.

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• Suffolk Creating the Greenest County

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Creating the Greenest County

• Suffolk has a unique and varied natural
  environment
• Climate change has serious implications for
  everyone
• Suffolk Strategic Partnership developed a cross
  sector initiative Creating the Greenest County
• Suffolk County Council Action Plan to contribute
  to the initiative

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Suffolk County Council Environmental Action Plan

• Community Leadership adapting to change in
  climate, adverse weather contingency planning
• Property and Energy establishing culture of
  environmental excellence in Design and Build
• Procurement managing supply chains to reduce
  consumption of scarce resources, emission of
  green house gases and environmental pollutants
• Waste developing alternative waste treatment
  technologies
• Children and Young People supporting
  environmental education and sustainability in
  schools
• Transport manage demands for transport and
  encourage shift to more sustainable forms of
  transport
• Landscape, wildlife and the historic environment
  promoting the understanding and conservation of
  Suffolks distinctive landscapes
• Implementation implementing action plan,
  maintaining accreditation to ISO14001

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Food Preparation Hub

• Local kitchen facility with preparation
  facilities
• Problems sourcing local products eg. poultry,
  meatballs and burgers
• Prepared by County Catering and Social Enterprise
  staff
• Collection and distribution by local distributor
  ( 14 miles from depot )

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Contact details

• Clive Hammond Tel. [phone]
• Email clive.hammond_at_pss.suffolkcc.gov.uk
• Tully Wakeman, East Anglia Food Link,
  tully_at_eafl.org / 07717 471 396
• www.eafl.org