Appendix 1: Heart of the SW LEP Priorities for Growth

Project Name Food for Life AND/ OR Sustainable Food Cities

Lead Organisation DCC or Food for Life

Contact details Name Polly Frost / Lucy O’Loughlin Email [email protected]/ [email protected] Phone number 07795 073 418/ 01392 386384 Outline Project Description Food for Life - Please describe the activity It would be important in Devon for this project to incorporate that you plan to undertake. funding and further development of the Food for Life Partnership. Public Health funded a Food for Life Partnership programme manager from 2012-2015 to work with schools in Devon to take a whole-school approach to healthy and sustainable food, particularly in 20 target schools to reduce health inequalities. This commission has recently been extended for a year but funding cannot be guaranteed in the future. Continued funding would enable us to build on the good work that has already been happening in Devon, and the relationships and networks already built up around growing, outdoor learning, cooking and eating. The Food for Life approach is bring extended to other settings, including hospitals, early years, care homes and communities. There is an extensive national network and a growing evidence base behind their approach to health, sustainability and food.

Sustainable Food Cities The Sustainable Food Cities approach is a sister project to the Food for Life Partnership; it involves developing a cross-sector partnership of local public agencies, businesses and NGOs committed to working together to make healthy and sustainable food a defining characteristic of where they live. The key issues addressed are:

1. Promoting healthy and sustainable food to the public 2. Tackling food poverty, diet-related ill health and access to affordable healthy food 3. Building community food knowledge, skills, resources and projects 4. Promoting a vibrant and diverse sustainable food economy 5. Transforming catering and food procurement 6. Reducing waste and the ecological footprint of the food system

Although the model is naturally well suited to cities, it has also been used in rural or region-wide settings, for example in Bath and North East Somerset and Lancashire.

Both projects should retain a focus on reducing health and social inequalities. Social marketing work could be undertaken at the beginning of the project to ensure that project strands aimed at changing behaviour are targeted, relevant, and remove barriers to healthy eating.

Geography – Where will Any school can sign up to the FFLP partnership award, but the activity take place? programme manager currently offers support to 30 target schools, (in Exeter/ Exmouth/ Newton Abbot/ Barnstaple and Ilfracombe) plus training offered to all schools (teachers and kitchen staff).

The SFC model can operate area-wide, e.g. ‘Sustainable Food Devon’ or as a nested model, i.e. by district or town. Exeter Community Food Network has recently affiliated to the network so could act as pilot/pioneer area (see below). Some actions, such as changes to procurement or communications and marketing, will operate Devon- wide, whereas some, such as private sector initiatives or community food projects, could operate on a local level.

Timing – Over what time 2 years plus. period will activity take place? SFC partnerships are more successful if they are built over 5-10 year timescales. Partners – Who are the Food for Life Partnership potential partners? Devon Education for Sustainability Working Group (DESWG) Please indicate if partners have been involved in the Growing Devon Schools Partnership development of the project to date, or if they have yet to be approached. Exeter Community Food Network, a network that emerged after the Devon Food Strategy was published, have recently affiliated to the Sustainable Food Cities model. The network is at an early stage, but includes voluntary sector and local authority partners, including the Food for Life Partnership. Funding could support the development of this network, a dedicated coordinator, action plan, communications and marketing plan, and extend the model across Devon.

The SFC approach is open and inclusive, it’s about celebrating and communicating all the good projects already happening in Devon around food and health, fosters collaboration and acts as an umbrella/platform for further action. Partners could be extensive and bring together voluntary, public and private sector.

Fit with Natural Devon’s To protect and improve Primary aims Devon’s natural environment To grow Devon’s green Primary economy To reconnect Devon’s people Primary with nature Commentary:

Fit with Natural Devon’s Naturally Healthy Primary priority themes - Please Green Connections Primary select the primary theme(s) Outdoor Learning Primary that your project supports, as Farming with Nature Primary well as any themes where the Wood for Good No alignment project makes a secondary Resilient Wetlands No alignment contribution. If your project Sustainable Seas Secondary does not have a primary theme, please select the appropriate secondary themes. More Commentary: information can be found at http:// www.naturaldevon.org.uk/wp- FFL award framework for schools includes growing food & content/uploads/2014/01/Final-DLNP- prospectus-jan20141.pdf composting. This work is often delivered alongside the school’s Outdoor Learning and Forest school activity. There is a good fit with the success criteria “A greater number and diversity of people are engaged in outdoor learning” both in schools and with their communities. FFL is already working with Naturally Healthy Devon Schools and other DESWG partners.

A number of Sustainable Food City projects incorporate ‘Sustainable Fish Cities’ into their project plans. However, it would be good to retain a focus on reducing health and social inequalities – so the primary aims included here are the ones that directly focus on directly influencing people to eat healthy and sustainable diets.

Place-based projects, e.g. the nested model described above, should focus on areas of deprivation/less well resourced areas. – Food for Life currently works with targeted schools based on IDACI and NCMP data.

This project would enable implementation of the Devon Food Strategy, which overlaps considerably with Local Nature Partnership aims. Fit with HOTSW LEP Please describe how your project contributes to the Heart of the SW Strategic Economic Plan LEP’s Priorities for Growth (see Appendix A). Please list the priorities Priorities. Appendix 1 where your project could make a direct contribution and explain how provides a summary of the it will contribute. Priorities for Growth. More information can be found: FFL schools run School Farmers Markets as part of their links with http://www.heartofswlep.co.uk/strateg ic-economic-plan local food suppliers, understanding where there food comes from and as an income generation project for the school. There is also an economic benefit to the local producers who attend the farmers market as it open new markets to their business and may result in repeat business. Direct sales are an important part of small food and farming businesses and impact profitability and employment. For the school teaching enterprise and entrepreneurship is an important part of curriculum and pupil’s readiness for the workplace.

FFL has also carried out some research with the New Economics Foundation (http://www.foodforlife.org.uk/~/media/files/evaluation %20reports/fflp-nef----benefits-of-local-procurement.pdf ). Their Plugging the Links methodology shows that for every £1 spent in the local economy equals £3 return on investment. This is relevant in Food for Life schools and also with the Catering Mark (http://www.sacert.org/catering ) that applies to all Devon Norse schools, as the Catering Mark quality assurance scheme requires a % of local and ethical sourcing which has a positive impact on the local economy.

Financials What is the estimated total project cost? What proportion of total project cost are capital costs? Have you secured any funding for the project yet? If so, list amounts and sources. In your view, what are the potential sources of funding for this project? Outcomes - Please describe Environmental Outcomes: what you expect the project to Reduced food waste achieve in terms of Shift to healthy and sustainable diets, protecting biodiversity and Environmental, Social and reducing risk of climate change Economic Outcomes

Social Outcomes: Increased number of people eating healthy and sustainable diets Narrow the health inequalities gap through improved diet and reduction in obesity Build community food knowledge and skills Increased social capital Reduced social isolation and improved mental wellbeing

Economic Outcomes: Increased business for local food producers

Quantifiable outputs - The following results are taken from the national evaluation of the Please provide any information Food for Life Partnership programme. you have about quantifiable benefits? Please describe how Improving Children's Health these have been estimated.  A 28% increase in primary school-age children reporting eating 5-a-day.  45% of parents said their family was eating more vegetables, with 43% switching to healthier and more sustainable choices in the shopping basket. Improving Education  Twice as many primary schools received an Ofsted rating of outstanding following their participation with the Food for Life Partnership.  Many head teachers reported a positive impact on pupil behaviour, attention and attainment.  67.1% of schools felt the programme had a clear impact on their Ofsted report in terms of pupils' personal development and well-being. Tackling Inequalities  In non-FFLP schools, over 20% of primary school pupils and 30% of secondary school pupils are eligible for healthy free school meals, but choose not to eat them for fear of stigma or the lure of fast food outlets.  In FFLP schools over a two-year period, free school meal take-up increased by 13% in primary schools, 20.9% in secondary schools, and by 21% across the board in schools achieving our Silver or Gold award. Improving Local Enterprise & Sustainability  Children eating school meals rose by 5% over two years, making them much more cost effective to cater.  Over £3 in social, economic and environmental value was created for every £1 spent on Food for Life menus. This was mainly in the form of new jobs in the local economy.

These statistics came from the following evaluations - full reports to download in the Evaluation Reports section:  Food for Life Partnership Evaluation, Orme J et al, 2011  Qualitative Impact Evaluation of the Food for Life Programme, Teeman D et al, 2011  FFLP: Monitoring the Impact of the Growing Skills Programme, Barrett Hacking E et al, 2011  The Benefits of Procuring School Meals through the FFLP: An economic analysis for FFLP, Kersley H, 2011

Sustainable Food Cities is a partnership approach for a number of workstreams so is not evaluated or quantified in the same way. But it is a growing, nationally recognised umbrella for work under sustainable and healthy eating. Evaluation should be built into a local programme of work.

The Food for Life Catering Mark supports the Plan for Public Procurement: Holders of this accreditation generally score good or excellent against the plan's recommendations.

Consultation – What This project would build on the Devon Food Strategy which was consultation has already endorsed by the Devon Strategic Partnership and circulated to Heads occurred is more required? of Service.

The Exeter Community Food Network already contains 20 member organisations across voluntary and public sector, and is fully engaged and enthusiastic to work through a partnership approach.

Further engagement work would be needed with key strategic partners to ensure sign up beyond Exeter and action across the key issues, e.g.:

Local Nature Partnership Devon Health and Wellbeing Board Exeter Health and Wellbeing Board Devon Strategic Partnership District councils

Statutory Approvals – What unknown statutory approvals will be required for the project? Are these in place? Risks – What are the main risks associated with this project?

Creating the Conditions for Growth - Maximising Productivity and Employment Capitalising on our Distinctive Assets Improving our infrastructure and services Opportunities - stimulating jobs and Utilising our distinctive assets to create to underpin growth growth across the whole economy opportunities for business growth and better jobs Place Infrastructure for growth: The infrastructure and facilities to create The infrastructure and facilities needed to  Transport and accessibility more and better employment: support higher value growth:  Digital infrastructure  Enterprise infrastructure  Specialist marine sites  Sustainable solutions for flood  Strategic employment sites  Science/Innovation infrastructure management  Unlocking housing growth  Maximising our environmental  Energy Infrastructure assets

Business Creating a favourable business environment Achieving more sustainable and broadly Supporting higher value growth:  A simpler, more accessible, business based business growth:  Innovation through Smart support system, tailored to our  Reaching new markets (on-line, Specialisation needs supply chains, public sector)  Building our capacity for innovation o Improving access to finance  Globalisation (exports and inward o Stimulating enterprise and investment) growth People Creating a responsive environment, where Increasing employment, progression and Creating a world class workforce to support businesses and individuals can reach their workforce skills. higher value growth: potential:  Moving people into employment  Enterprise and business skills  Skills infrastructure and facilities  Supporting people to progress to  Technical and higher level skills  Accessibility to better jobs development and retention education/employment (transport,  Improving workforce skills  Maximising the skills and careers advice and digital inclusion) employment opportunities aligned  Employer engagement and to our transformational ownership opportunities. Appendix 1: Heart of the SW LEP Priorities for Growth