The PSC100 Group has asked for reassurance from the Government that public food services will be prioritised in all food policy decisions in the coming year and beyond. The PSC100 was formed in 2009 and is an alliance of public sector organisations that deliver catering services within schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, care homes, prisons and the armed forces across the UK. Between them they deliver more than 2bn meals a year, serving up to 15m people on a typical weekday. Matthew White, chair of the PSC100 Group said in the letter, “Each year our professional collective comes together to discuss topics of mutual interest, best practice, and workforce support. 'This year, at our annual round table event hosted at the Palace of Westminster.

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The Eating Better alliance has published a report titled ‘Serving better: better menus make better choices’ ahead of Public Sector Catering’s second Plant-Based Week, which is taking place from 9-13 May 2022. The report includes top tips to help and encourage public sector caterers to introduce more plant-based dishes to their menus. More and more chefs are being trained to develop exciting plant-based dishes for the public sector as the industry as a whole looks to reduce its carbon emissions. Andy Jones, chair of the PSC100 Group, said, “We are working closely with the industry to develop menus which show our commitment to increasing plant-based meals while using less but better quality meat produced to higher animal welfare and environmental standards.

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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has created a Public Sector Food and Catering guide for small to medium-sized enterprises to help them support the efforts of catering buyers to procure more British produce. The document has been created with input from the Public Sector Catering 100 Group, which includes the following national catering organisations - LACA (school meals) the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO), the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), ASSIST FM (Scottish local authority service providers) and the Professional Association of Catering Education (PACE). Other bodies whose consultation helped shape the new guide include NHS Supply Chain.

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An unprecedented expansion and refurbishment programme will create more than 4,000 new prison places across the country, the Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab announced. These new places are part of the government’s £4bn investment to create 20,000 modern and innovative prison places, ensuring the right conditions are in place to truly rehabilitate prisoners. This will give prisoners the education, skills and addiction support they need to live crime-free lives on release, helping to cut crime and protect the public. The 4,000 places announced today will be created across 16 prisons through the building of new wings and refurbishing jails. They will create thousands of jobs for local communities.

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Public Sector Catering has once again convened a panel of expert judges to draw up the Top 20 ‘most influential’ people in public sector catering. David Foad, editor of PSC magazine says of the 2021 intake, “Who are the people who are really shaping and driving the agenda in schools, hospitals, social care, universities, prisons and the military? “It’s a question we’ve been asking since we convened a independent panel of judges to draw up the first Top 20 ‘most influential’ people in public sector catering in 2008. “We’re still following the same formula and here is this year’s list - the order in which they appear is purely random and does not imply any sort of ranking.” The Top 20 for 2021 Jacquie Blake.

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The Public Sector Catering Awards, which will return to the Hilton London Metropole on Thursday 7 April 2022, are now open for nominations. The awards are open to individuals, teams, companies and organisations including contract caterers operating in a public sector environment. There are 16 award categories available for nomination plus the Armed Forces Caterer of the Year Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award that will be presented on the night. The Public Sector Catering Awards - the new name for the Cost Sector Catering Awards, were rebranded in 2020 to better reflect the sector we operate in. The awards are an opportunity to showcase the good work that has been done over the past year.

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The Army has launched a new Army EATS (Exploring the Appetite of Today’s Soldiers) digital hub that will enable a conversation with soldiers to modernise how they access food and catering services in the future. The Army EATS hub, hosted on the Army’s enterprise social network Defence Connect, supports a communication forum for soldiers to increase their nutritional knowledge as well as allowing them to contribute to discussion about how the modern soldier wants their food services provided. Staff Sergeant Guy Lowe-Barrow, a Chef Instructor with 167 Catering Support Regiment RLC based in Grantham, understands the importance of healthy meals for soldiers. he said, “Our meal choices over time influence our fitness and wellbeing.

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After having to go virtual for 2020, the Public Sector Catering Awards 2021 will be returning to the London Hilton Metropole on Thursday 9 September to celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams who operate within a public sector catering environment. The Public Sector Catering Awards - the new name for the Cost Sector Catering Awards, were rebranded in 2020 to better reflect the sector we operate in. The awards are an opportunity to showcase the good work that has been done over the past year. The Lifetime Achievement Award, which is decided by the judges, recognises a person who has made an ‘outstanding’ contribution to the industry. Long-time school meals campaigner and former dinner lady Jeanette Orrey was presented with the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

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New research by the PSC100 Group and the Eating Better alliance has found the strongest support yet for the campaign among public sector caterers to serve more vegetables and fruit alongside better quality meat at reduced volumes. The research, timed to coincide with Public Sector Catering magazine’s Plant-Based Week (May 17-21), highlights that concerns about climate change, nature loss, and individual health are the key drivers of change across public sector menus. The results reflect the momentum building behind meat reduction across the public sector and support the PSC100 initiative, launched just over a year ago, to reduce meat served by 20%, focus on making the meat served British and better quality.

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As local authorities decide their budgets ahead of spring 2021, local people, campaigners, and academics have written to councillors to urge them to invest in underfunded vital food services for older people. A group of professionals and campaigners, including the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), has written to England’s council leaders to urge them to invest in older people’s health. The letter was coordinated by the food and farming charity Sustain and signed by representatives from the third sector, private sector, social enterprise and academia. The group is united by a commitment to ensuring all older people can access at least one good meal every day, and their understanding that as we recover from Covid-19 it is vital that communities and individuals develop greater resilience and better infrastructure to guard against future shocks.

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The Top 20 ‘most influential’ people involved in public sector catering during 2020 has been announced in full today (December 10th) by Public Sector Catering magazine. The Top 20 Alexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food Andy Jones, chair of PSC100 Group Andy Kemp, public sector ‘champion’, Bidfood Anna Taylor, director of Food Foundation Clive Dunlop, Defence Logistics Craig Smith, chair of HCA David Oliver, head of catering HMPS Henry Dimbleby, independent lead, National Food Strategy Jayne Jones, chair of ASSIST FM Kath Dalmeny, head of food & farming charity Sustain Lindsay Graham, poverty & inequality commissioner, Scotland Mark Davies, MD ISS Food Services Molly Shaher, chair of PACE Phil Rees-Jones.

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Love British Food has written a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking him to support local producers during this difficult economic period. Currently, the public sector purchases £2.6Bn of food every year but Love British Food believes more can be done to support British producers. Love British Food wants the Government to spend 85% of the current public sector budget for procuring food and catering services with local producers and British businesses. The letter states: “What unites so many of us is our passion for supporting the dedicated and talented local farmers and producers who have kept this country running during some of its darkest hours. “Despite enormous concerns that food supply chains may buckle earlier this year.

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Legislation has taken effect from 18 July to grant local authorities new powers to respond to a serious and imminent threat to public health and to prevent COVID-19 transmission in a local authority’s area. These regulations include powers for local authorities to: > restrict access to, or close, individual premises > prohibit certain events (or types of event) from taking place > restrict access to, or close, public outdoor places (or types of outdoor public places) following procedural requirements set out in the Regulations and covered below. This guidance provides clarity to local authorities on how to implement the Regulations and to support those impacted by any intervention made under them.

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Public sector catering operators are being encouraged to sign-up to a campaign, #20percentlessmeat from PSC100 Group, aimed at bringing down the amount of meat on their menus by 20% across schools, hospitals, universities and care homes. Working with animal charity Humane Society International/UK and others it is estimated that the carbon emissions savings, should the 20% target be reached across the sector, would be over 200,000 metric tonnes. If it is achieved that would cut the estimated 45m kg of meat served within the sector every year by about 9m kg. In animal terms that meat saving equates to 45,000 cows or 16m chickens. It would have the same environmental effect as removing more than 400.

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Prisoners across the UK have enjoyed a full festive menu this Christmas. Although budgets have stayed tight, as per Ministry of Justice guidelines, inmated still had everything from salmon to roast turkey to choose from, as well as halal and vegan options. The Christmas meals are paid for from within existing prison budgets and at no extra cost to the taxpayer. Prisoners get a daily catering allowance of £2.02. With increased responsibilities to governors since April 2017, and devolved budgets to prisons, what is actually spent on food per prisoner per day, and the breakdown per meals, is ultimately a decision for each governor and their catering team, the Ministry of Justice says. Here are the menus for HMP Dartmoor and HMP Channings Wood (category C) and HMP Exeter (category B).

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Food Standards Agency (FSA) has carried out a survey of all local authorities (LAs) across the three countries and 104 LAs replied. The survey assessed how LAs plan and prioritise their food standards work, the resources and capacity they have and how they measure the success of their programmes. Key findings included: • Levels of food standards resource in England are generally lower than in Wales and Northern Ireland, with 22% of English LAs having less than 1 Full-Time Equivalent (‘FTE’) person dedicated to food standards work. • 15% of food businesses are unrated for food standards risk, however the figures for some LAs are higher • LAs had difficulty in recruiting qualified officers and 57% of LAs were not in a position to support a student through the qualification process Heather Hancock.

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Courts and tribunals vary a lot in the refreshments they provide. Some have a selection of hot and cold food; others offer drinks; and some offer very little. This can depend on where the building is, and how many people use it; but new guidance has been issued that will help courts to be more ambitious and provide better refreshment options. For the first time, the guidance sets a minimum standard - saying that, at the very least, all visitors to our buildings should be able to access a broad selection of good quality hot and cold drinks, even in the smallest buildings. The new guidance and sources of information introduced will help operational teams to explore and introduce the best approach possible for their buildings and the people who use them.

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The Vegan society is targeting the government with a petition to call on the public sector to provide at least one vegan option on the menu every day. Campaigners say that there is the potential for England to become the first country in Europe to enshrine a right to good quality, affordable, plant-based food in law. Louise Davies, head of campaigns, policy and research at The Vegan Society, said, “The government is responsible for ensuring that our public sector provides for vegans in the UK and the proposed legislation would assist in fulfilling that obligation. “Provision for vegans in the public sector I lacking, with hospital patients and school children often going hungry. “We hope that vegans and non-vegans alike will agree on the importance of our petition and join us in urging institutions to provide healthy and environmentally-friendly vegan food.

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Cost Sector Catering has announced the public sector catering’s top 20 ‘most influential’ people in 2017 In its ninth year now, Cost Sector Catering’s annual Public Sector ‘Most Influential’ (PSMI) list of the top 20 movers and shakers again reflects the major concerns that challenge the industry. Of these concerns, obesity and malnutrition have ridden alongside the PSMI Top 20 list like two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the start of the annual exercise. They remain huge issues, but as awareness grows of the prevalence of hunger among children this is reflected in the composition of this year’s list. Lindsay Graham, who heads the Holiday Hunger Task Force that is part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food.

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Commercial property group, Colliers International has submitted proposals to Highland Council to replace HMP Inverness Prison with a new £66m facility with 200 cells. The new HMP Highland will take the place of the 112-year-old prison, located in the city centre, with a new 21st century fit-for-purpose prison. Working on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service, Colliers International’s planning team lodged the PPP (planning permission in principle) for the new prison on land to the south of Inverness Retail and Business Park. Meabhann Crowe, senior planner at Colliers International, said: 'Identifying a suitable site for a new prison facility is a rare task. Finding a suitable location was not as straightforward as with many other buildings.

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