Food Cardiff Bronze SFC Award Application
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Over the past year Food Cardiff Council has gone from Partnership 2 strength to strength. As its Chair I am extremely proud Action Plan 3 of all it has achieved and of its plans for the future. Policy 5 Formed of public, private and third sector members, the Key Issues Council has a unique ability to bring together a diverse 1. Promoting healthy and 7 range of groups and individuals who are together greater sustainable food to the public than the sum of their parts. 2. Tackling food poverty, diet 12 It encourages collaboration, and highlights the benefits for members as well as related ill health and access to the wider community of working together in this way. It has also been at the affordable healthy food forefront of raising awareness of the benefits of a strong, sustainable local food 3. Building community food 16 culture which empowers residents to make healthy choices about the food they knowledge, skills, resources eat, of driving food redistribution and food waste prevention, and addressing and projects poverty. 4. Promoting a vibrant and 20 diverse sustainable food I have been particularly impressed with the number of different projects Food economy Cardiff Council has contributed to or delivered, and its ability to engage local 5. Transforming catering and food 24 residents in thinking about and discussing food-related issues. I know that procurement together we have the ability to make a positive impact on the lives of so many 6. Reducing waste the ecological 28 people, and I am grateful to members for their hard work, skills and footprint of the food system commitment. Carl Nichols Appendices: Director of WRAP Cymru and Food Cardiff Council Chair Appendix 1: Terms of Reference 32 Appendix 2: Action Plan 35 Appendix 3: Food Cardiff Charter 62 1 Partnership Minimum requirements Terms of reference for partnership in place with list of member names and organisations Cross-sector (public sector, business, NGO, community group) membership of partnership Partnership has met at least 4 times spanning the last 12 months and evidence that meetings are leading to implementation The Food Cardiff Council has high-level commitment and sign-up by Cardiff Council, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff University and WRAP Cymru. It is mandated by the Healthy Lifestyles Programme Board, which is part of the Cardiff Partnership Board (the Local Strategic Partnership). Being part of the Cardiff Partnership Board’s structure enables access to the senior level decision makers of the main public sector bodies in the city. Reporting arrangements are on a quarterly basis, and the Food Council is accountable to the Healthy Lifestyles Partnership Board. As part of the reporting process, actions that are experiencing blockages or aren’t delivered are escalated to the Cardiff Partnership Board. At the same time, the Food Council is held accountable to the Cardiff Partnership Board and may be invited to brief the Board on progress or response to current issues. Food Cardiff was borne from the amalgamation of two city-wide partnerships: the Cardiff Food and Health Steering Group, which drove the health and sustainable food priority of the Cardiff Partnership Board Healthy Living work stream, and the Cardiff Sustainable Food City Steering Group: an informal, cross-sector partnership of public, private and voluntary organisations who developed the Cardiff Food Charter. Food Cardiff Council was established in 2014 and has evolved over the last twelve months to ensure maximum engagement with its many partner organisations whilst ensuring that meetings are productive. Comprised of two parts, Food Cardiff Council meetings take the form of a Business Group meeting held in open session (see Appendix 1 for terms of reference and membership). This addresses issues such as setting priorities, identifying challenges and opportunities and monitoring progress against the Food Cardiff Action plan (See Appendix 2). The second part of the meeting involves the wider Food Cardiff Community in a networking session based on a relevant issue. For example, the last meeting saw presentations and discussions on welfare reform, the Feeding Britain report and fuel poverty. The resulting discussions have led to research on how we can assess the demand for social meal provision in Cardiff and looking at how to set up a project to address school holiday hunger. 2 Planned Food Cardiff Council meeting dates are now tweeted and the meetings are open to all with an interest in healthy, ethical and sustainable food. Minutes are published on the Food Cardiff website. The most recent Food Cardiff Meetings took place in May 2014, July 2014, September 2014 and January 2015. The work around Bessemer Road Wholesale Market illustrates how the Food Cardiff Council has had an impact on progressing upstream structural challenges in the City. A member of the Food Cardiff Council raised the issue of the threat to the market, which is the key local wholesaler of fresh food. A piece of research was then commissioned by the Food Council and conducted by Cardiff University. The findings were used to put a case to the Economic Development Director of City of Cardiff Council (CCC) that CCC should be assisting the survival of the asset. CCC undertook property searches, and the issue was further elevated at the Food Cardiff Summit where an Assembly Member present proceeded to facilitate a meeting with the Deputy Minister for Food and Farming to raise the market as an issue for Wales as a whole. Resources at Welsh Government are now doing everything in their power to ensure Bessemer Road Wholesale Market is not lost to Wales. Action Plan Minimum requirement Action plan outlining key objectives for at least one year ahead. It does not matter if the action plan is in draft form, but it should be available for interested parties to read and reflect the six key issues listed previously. Good food is vital to the quality of people’s lives in Cardiff. As well as being tasty and affordable, food should be good for people, good for places and good for the planet. Building on Cardiff’s rich history at the heart of a nation famous for its food, the action plan is designed to celebrate and promote a vibrant and diverse food culture and to increase the demand and supply of fresh, seasonal, local and organic Welsh food throughout the city. By promoting healthy, sustainable and ethical food as part of a thriving local economy, the Cardiff sustainable food action plan will improve the health and wellbeing of residents and visitors alike and create a more vibrant, connected and prosperous city. The ambitions of the Food Cardiff Sustainable Food Action Plan (Appendix 2) are aligned with Welsh Government and local strategies; including the Welsh Assembly Government’s (2010) Food for Wales Food from Wales: 2010-2020, A Food Strategy for Wales and Cardiff: What Matters 2010-2020, and the 10 year partnership strategy for Cardiff. 3 Priorities: To inform the development of this action plan, Food Cardiff mapped the City’s sustainable food assets and engaged with over one hundred individuals and organisations across the city. This mapping and engagement process will continue over the next three years. Food Cardiff has built upon this excellent foundation by setting out specific actions to address 5 population level outcomes: 1. Health and wellbeing for all: people in Cardiff eat well 2. A thriving local food economy and sustainable food procurement 3. Environmental sustainability 4. Resilient, close knit communities 5. Fairness in the food chain These outcomes are not mutually exclusive and many of the actions contribute towards more than one outcome. The action plan is underpinned by an engagement plan to promote the Cardiff Food Charter and persuade organisations and individuals to make pledges to support it. The Food Cardiff Council ensures that research and monitoring is undertaken and public sector policies are in place to support Cardiff as a sustainable food city. Governance: The implementation of the Cardiff Sustainable Food action plan is overseen by the Food Cardiff Council. The Food Council reports to the Healthy Lifestyles Programme Board and the Environment Work Programme of the Cardiff Partnership Board. The Sustainable Food Cities Co-ordinator is hosted and line managed within Cardiff and Vale Public Health Team, with input from all the funding organisations through a small steering group which meets regularly. Moving Forward Having successfully delivered a number of its first year action plan objectives and building on a solid history of promoting healthy and sustainable food in recent years, Food Cardiff hopes to successfully apply for the Bronze Sustainable Food Cities Award in Spring 2015. In 2015, the action plan will be reviewed and refreshed to make the most of opportunities and to effectively prioritise actions to enable Food Cardiff to become a Silver Sustainable Food Cities Award holder by the end of 2016. 4 Policy Minimum requirement Evidence that healthy and sustainable food is ‘recognised/referred to’ in city policies and strategies. Food is recognised both implicitly and explicitly in a number of policies and strategies at both a city and a national level - of which Cardiff is obviously a key part as the nation’s capital. Cardiff was the first Welsh city to be awarded World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy City status1, aiming to create a health- supportive environment. The City has a single partnership strategy, Cardiff What Matters 2010:20202, which has been developed in partnership3 to achieve 7 outcomes: 1. People in Cardiff are healthy 2. People in Cardiff have a clean, attractive and sustainable environment 3. People in Cardiff are safe and feel safe 4. Cardiff has a thriving and prosperous economy 5. People in Cardiff achieve their full potential 6.