Agenda item

10.1

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority are making £150,000 available to Sheffield City Council with the requirement that it must be spent directly on sustainable food provision.

It is proposed that the SYMCA funding is used to accelerate the implementation of the Food Access Plan. Specifically, it will be used to develop sustainable local food sourcing infrastructure by:

1.     Investing in S6 food bank to give them capacity to purchase food at scale on behalf of other food banks and food initiatives in the city. This will benefit the food projects who take part by reducing the cost of the food they require and reducing the time they must spend sourcing food. In turn this will increase the resilience of the emergency food relief system.

2.     Investing in Food Works to enable them to scale up their surplus food sourcing and develop a pantry model. Food Works pantries will be rolled out in multiple locations across the city in partnership with community organisations. This will increase the number of people in our most disadvantaged communities that are able to access affordable nutritious food.

10.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Finance Committee approves the proposed funding allocations as set out in paragraph 1.16 of the report.

10.3

Reasons for decisions

10.3.1

Supporting food purchasing in bulk will build the resilience of the emergency food system in Sheffield saving food banks time and money.

10.3.2

The expansion of Food Works pantries allows us to deliver on the commitments of the Food Access Plan to stimulate a more diverse range of food provision and support. Delivery of food pantries via Food Works rather than a national operator means that we are investing in local infrastructure and resilience. It also means that the model can be developed responsively and collaboratively, taking into account then eeds of the community partner organisations who will host the pantries.

10.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

10.4.1

Provide funding to The Bread and Butter Thing to implement 5 mobile pantries across Sheffield. Whilst it was noted that the initiative has many positive attributes and would bring benefits to communities it was felt that investing in local infrastructure and developing models of support that respond to the needs of local food relief initiatives would bring greater long term benefit.

10.4.2

Continue the emergency food store that is currently being hosted by S6 food bank on behalf of Sheffield City Council. This would not meet the SYMCA requirement for the development of sustainable food provision as it would mean purchasing food on a one off basis rather than investing in capability and infrastructure.

10.4.3

Divide the funding amongst existing food banks This would not meet the SYMCA requirement for the development of sustainable food provision as would likely be utilised for food and ongoing running costs. There will be other grants schemes in the near future that could be used in this way and we will ensure food banks are supported to submit applications.

10.1

The Health Improvement Principal submitted a report seeking approval to allocate funding from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to accelerate the implementation of the Food Access Plan. SYMCA had made £150,000 available to Sheffield City Council with the requirement that it must be spent directly on sustainable food provision.

The funding would be used to develop sustainable local food sourcing infrastructure by:

1.     Investing in S6 food bank to give them capacity to purchase food at scale on behalf of other food banks and food initiatives in the city. This would benefit the food projects who took part by reducing the cost of the food they required and reducing the time they must spend sourcing food. In turn this would increase the resilience of the emergency food relief system.

2.     Investing in Food Works to enable them to scale up their surplus food sourcing and develop a pantry model. Food Works pantries would be rolled out in multiple locations across the city in partnership with community organisations. This would increase the number of people in the most disadvantaged communities that were able to access affordable nutritious food.

10.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Finance Committee approves the proposed funding allocations as set out in paragraph 1.16 of the report.

10.3

Reasons for decisions

10.3.1

Supporting food purchasing in bulk will build the resilience of the emergency food system in Sheffield saving food banks time and money.

10.3.2

The expansion of Food Works pantries allows us to deliver on the commitments of the Food Access Plan to stimulate a more diverse range of food provision and support. Delivery of food pantries via Food Works rather than a national operator means that we are investing in local infrastructure and resilience. It also means that the model can be developed responsively and collaboratively, taking into account the needs of the community partner organisations who will host the pantries.

10.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

10.4.1

Provide funding to The Bread and Butter Thing to implement 5 mobile pantries across Sheffield. Whilst it was noted that the initiative has many positive attributes and would bring benefits to communities it was felt that investing in local infrastructure and developing models of support that respond to the needs of local food relief initiatives would bring greater long term benefit.

10.4.2

Continue the emergency food store that is currently being hosted by S6 food bank on behalf of Sheffield City Council. This would not meet the SYMCA requirement for the development of sustainable food provision as it would mean purchasing food on a one off basis rather than investing in capability and infrastructure.

10.4.3

Divide the funding amongst existing food banks This would not meet the SYMCA requirement for the development of sustainable food provision as would likely be utilised for food and ongoing running costs. There will be other grants schemes in the near future that could be used in this way and we will ensure food banks are supported to submit applications.