Public Sector 100 makes a start

7th December 2011, 4:56pm

December 1 2012 – QEII Centre, Westminster, London By David Foad

Just under a year ago, we were set a challenge by the Public Sector Most Influential group to create a platform where the industry could leverage a louder joint voice on key issues, with the idea of supporting the individual association objectives, such as the NACC's 'No One Should Go Hungry' campaign.

In particular the subjects of health, nutrition and wellbeing and sustainability were high on the agenda.

After much discussion and deliberation the concept of PS100 was born. The people on the PS100 list are a mixture of industry stakeholders, opinion formers and political power brokers, particularly Ministers, MP's and influential civil servants.

Our purpose is to build awareness of these crucial issues and the potential impact that government under funding and lack of understanding has on our customers (the young, the elderly, the unwell, the misguided, our forces heroes, etc).

The three key aims are: Appointment of a Government Health & Wellbeing 'Tsar' Protected mealtimes across the public sector Creation of 'lifetime' nutritional standards The three key actions to help achieve these aims are: Collect together an evidence base from existing research Create a public sector catering lobbying voice Investigate research into changing people's eating habits

And so it was that more than 80 key personnel representing foodservice in the public sector gathered for the inaugural event at the QEII Centre on December 1 – within sight of the Houses of Parliament.

As the health and nutrition agenda made clear: The stakes are high. What could be more important to us than our health and that of our children?

In other words, how have we arrived at the situation today that the UK is the fattest nation in Europe.

We know that because data published by Eurostat in November showed nearly a quarter of women in this country – that's 23.9% - were recorded as obese in 2008/9, more than any other country.

And before the men suck in their tummies and look to tighten their belts a notch in self-congratulation, the same survey showed over 22% of them were also classed as obese.

These figures for adults alone should be enough to galvanise the country, but the grim news doesn't end there. The Black Review, written in 2008 by Professor Dame Carol Black, currently the national director for health and work, found significant levels of obesity in our children too: One in six boys and one in seven girls aged 2-15 were found to be obese.

What conclusions did she reach in her report? It's worth recalling her words: "This will be an increasing trend over the coming years unless early interventions are put in place to steer children away from the poor choices that lead to their becoming overweight."

If those numbers don't come down or, at the very least stop increasing, the things don't look too bright for our children and grandchildren.

The British medical publication, The Lancet, published a series of articles this summer that said that if current trends continue nearly half of UK men could be obese by 2030 and four in 10 women will be similarly overweight.

That translates into 26 million obese people in the country - a rise of 73% over the current 15 million.

And all the evidence points to the fact they won't be fat and jolly; they'll be tired, ill and unlikely to be working. There is a huge amount of evidence linking obesity to increased risk for a range of conditions, including high blood pressure, gallstones, cancer and, most clearly, Type 2 diabetes.

If the challenges are plain to see, what is equally clear is the role for both catering operators and suppliers in the public sector in providing a solution.

First of the speakers at the Public Sector 100 event was LACA Deputy Chair Anne Bull, who offered a stark figure to illustrate the cost of dealing with these problems in the future. She said that by 2050 half of the NHS budget, an estimated £51 billion, will be spent treating obesity-related diseases.

The key was to start educating young children about healthy eating and provide them with good nutritious meals at school. The nutritional standards introduced recently had been a good start, but she saw two major issues that threatened the progress made over the last few year.

One was the Government's refusal to obligate new academies and free schools to comply with the standards, the second was the plan to roll up all benefits for the less well off into a single 'Universal Tax Credit' (UTC) payment.

This would include the current free school meals payments, and she doubted that families receiving the proposed UTC would necessarily use it to pay for school meals.

Deputy Director of the Obesity Team at the Department of Health, Richard Cienciala said that when budgets were tight there inevitably were tensions between the economic growth agenda and the health and social care agenda and the long-term investment in people's health as against meeting their immediate health needs.

But he insisted: "At a national level there is a clear commitment to take action on health and obesity."

Ultimately, though, he believed more evidence was needed to show the benefits of a healthy diet before direct action was entertained by the Government.

Sarah Stanner of the British Nutrition Foundation offered the 'Expert View', at the same time showing that there was already a lot of good evidence out there to support the basic idea of a clear link between good nutrition and health and behaviour.

And she stressed the point that as the public sector was responsible for 6 million meals a day it offered a 'massive opportunity' to help tackle problems caused by obesity and poor nutrition.

Claire Morris, marketing director Sodexo UK provided the Contractors' View, and with it evidence that investment in diet and exercise makes sound sense for business and society.

She said there was a relationship between activity, diet and good health, and Sodexo had found the best results came from looking at lifestyle in general and not just diet.

Sodexo's willingness to get involved in public health initiatives can be seen through its commitment to the Government's Responsibility Deal, something that also applies to Unilever Food Solutions.

James Allred, the company's marketing manager gave delegates the Suppliers' View, saying the old philosophy of growth at any cost was no longer sustainable for any company.

"We're looking to double growth, that's still important, but we also want to cut our total environmental impact by half and we have a target for social impact – to help one billion people improve their lives," he said.

The panel discussion with Anne Bull, deputy chair of LACA; Janice Gillan, chair of the Hospital Caterers' Association (HCA) and Karen Oliver, chair of the National Association of Care Catering (NACC) drew some very interesting ideas that helped crystallise the thoughts of many caterers present into a few clear aims for Public Sector 100 and how they might be achieved.

The idea of a protected mealtime drew support from way beyond the traditional hospital constituency. Karen Oliver said it was an important principle for care homes and meals on wheels providers to follow.

And as school heads look to squeeze the traditional lunch hour into as little as 20 minutes, delegates said it was just as important for the education sector to give pupils enough time to eat a good meal in reasonable time.

Simon James, managing director of Eden Foodservice, which provides meals in a number of education contracts, proposed the idea of 'lifetime' nutritional standards.

"They've done it with schools, they could just as easily at the same time have drawn up food standards to cover from cradle to grave."

The suggestion was warmly supported by other delegates, as was the proposal that the public sector needed a single point of contact when dealing with the Government on health and nutrition issues.

A health and wellbeing 'Tsar' would allow a joined up approach among the many ministries that have responsibility for the issue of public health.

How can public sector caterers effectively pursue such aims?

The answer from delegates was an initial three-point plan they agreed would be the starting point for action.

This is: To collect an evidence base from all relevant existing research into health and nutrition in an attempt to present the definitive case for Government support; To create an industry lobbying voice for public sector catering; To investigate research into how people can be persuaded to change their eating habits.

David Foad, editor of Cost Sector Catering, concluded by saying: "Thank you, again, for joining us today. This is just the first step in creating a lobbying voice for public sector caterers so that your expertise and influence can play a part in driving Government action and legislation towards promoting healthier lifestyles.

"You'll be hearing a lot more from us about today and the future events we've got planned – through Cost Sector Catering magazine, through its website and via the PS 100 Facebook page we're launching.

"I look forward through all these different media to getting your feedback, comments, views, suggestions and initiatives."

Thanks to sponsors Public Sector 100 is being actively supported by five supplier partners: Unilever, Williams/Falcon, McCain, Dr Oetker and Mars. Their help made the launch event possible, their commitment to improving the nutrition and health in the UK continues in the reformulation and development of products and the promotional support they offer public sector caterers.