Agenda item

To provide an update to the Health and Wellbeing Board on the progress of a new food strategy, highlighting the emerging themes and outlining next steps.

Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) introduced the report, which provided an update on the progress towards a new Food Strategy for Brent. In introducing the report, she highlighted the following key points:

• Officers had reached out to voluntary and community sector organisations to understand what was already happening in the borough in terms of activities and enthusiasm towards food. She did not feel there was a complete picture there yet but there was enthusiasm and expertise within that sector.
• A visioning day was hosted a couple of  weeks ago, bringing together Council officers and community organisations to ask what they thought the scope of a food strategy should be and how it should be developed. The clear message arising from that visioning day was that the strategy needed to be developed in partnership, which was gratifying, as those boroughs who had done better work to date in this area had been characterised not just by doing that in partnership but by being led by the community sector.
• The visioning day prioritised food poverty, food and environment, food growing and food education. It was felt that the focus of the day reflected the participants, with the very pressing issue being around food poverty, but the next step was to broaden that work and, for example, engage businesses. The Council was looking to do a piece of work to address food and employment and food as an economic driver.
• The work would likely involve the establishment of a task group to oversee it and take the work forward, which was hoped would have a community chair.

In considering the report, the following issues were raised:

• The Board agreed with the recommendation to widen the food strategy.
• Councillor Krupa Sheth (Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Action, Brent Council) felt that many of the activities outlined in the report aligned well with the actions being taken on the climate emergency agenda and green neighbourhoods work, and therefore proposed some joined up work. Communities in green neighbourhoods were growing their own vegetables, and the Council had produced a book in collaboration with Veolia with different recipes inspiring residents to reduce food waste.
• Brent was declared a ‘right to food’ borough several years ago so members asked for some of that work to be encapsulated within the food strategy.
• Members suggested that one of the goals should be to completely eradicate food poverty in the borough.
• The Board highlighted the need to connect the food strategy with the work around free school meals.
• The Board highlighted the importance of working with local businesses around food waste and supply chains.
• Simon Crawford (Deputy Chief Executive, LNWUHT) highlighted that the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWUHT) aimed to use local produce for their meals for patients and could look at the franchises and contracts onsite and set expectations around those. He highlighted that food sometimes was a contributing factor to poor health, and so there was likely actions providers could take in that space.
• Members felt the strategy should be connected to some health outcomes that were expected from the strategy, for example reduction in childhood obesity and diabetes. Dr Melanie Smith agreed that was important, but as there was a need to develop the strategy in partnership with communities, she wanted to hold some uncertainties about what the outcomes and priorities would be until those conversations had been developed further.

RESOLVED:

i)              To note the enthusiasm for a partnership approach to the development of Food Strategy.

ii)             To endorse continued participation in the production of the Good Food for Londoners Annual Survey.