Education chiefs adopt lesson of supporting local food producers

Guidelines drawn up by Sheffield Council require that orders are placed with firms that supply fruit, vegetables and meat which are produced in Yorkshire and surrounding counties, including Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

The council said it had made a decision to place more emphasis on locally-sourced goods after a consultation with parents and teachers over a new school catering contract, and as a result of the council's aspiration to assist businesses.

Sheffield Council's cabinet member for children's services, Councillor Colin Ross said: "Buying local is a key priority for the council and is something we have worked hard to promote. This latest move should encourage catering companies to follow suit.

"Food produced in the Yorkshire and north Midlands regions should be the staple diet for our children when we can provide healthy school meals made from the best quality local ingredients.

"Local suppliers now have a strong advantage when dealing with the public sector."

At present, Sheffield Council's school meals contract is run by a national company, but negotiations have already been opened with local butcher Crawshaws and Sheffield-based Country Fresh Foods, which deals in fruit and vegetables.

Country Fresh managing director Neil Dowker said as a local business it had historically been "difficult" to deal with Sheffield Council but said he was happy to have been approached by the authority as a potential new supplier.

He added: "We currently don't supply Sheffield Council for school dinners, but we do have a contract with them on the other side of things for their town halls and other buildings so the authority is aware of how we work.

"We have been dealing with local growers for the past two decades, so we have already worked hard to build up the kind of supply base that the council is looking for and our primary business is fresh fruit and vegetables.

"We also manufacture our own pre-prepared fruit and veg using locally-sourced goods and we compete with some of the biggest food service names out there.

"To get a contract to supply the city's school meals service would be a substantial deal."

Mr Dowker said it was his company's policy to deal with customers within a one and a half hours driving time from the Sheffield depot, to ensure the freshness of the product supplied and to cut down on transport costs and carbon emissions.

Growers on the firm's books are mainly in South Yorkshire and north Nottinghamshire.

The company now runs 20 vehicles to supply its customers and employs 64 staff at its premises at the city's Holbrook Enterprise Centre in Halfway, on the border between Sheffield and Derbyshire.

Mr Dowker added: "We contract a certain amount of product from our growers per year and generally know how many pallets of goods like onions, potatoes and carrots we are going to need to meet our supply commitments.

"A lot of what we supply is seasonal and given the opportunity we can compete on price with any of the big firms.

"The tender for Sheffield's school meals is up for renewal next year and in previous years the focus has been on cost.

"But I think the council is now making a genuine effort to buy quality goods from local sources, he said."

Sheffield Council recently announced plans to use free range eggs as standard in all schools by next September and Coun Ross said genetically modified foods and products made from mechanically recovered meats had been banned for several years.

The council said it was "committed to maintaining high standards" in the meals it supplied in schools and said it expected schools which manage their own meals services to adhere to the same guidelines.

It is hoped that other local firms interested in grabbing a slice of public sector spending will visit a new website called Buy4Sheffield, which lists council tenders and contracts which are open at other taxpayer-funded organisations.

Coun Ross added: "Businesses can do themselves a massive favour in just a couple of clicks by registering with the council's Buy4Sheffield website, which includes many more opportunities to bid for local public sector contracts."

Website brings together buyers

Businesses with an interest in competing for public sector contracts in Sheffield and South Yorkshire are advised to visit a website set up by Sheffield Council in conjunction with other large public organisations.

The www.buy4sheffield.co.uk website allows businesses to get hold of key information about the region's public sector spend and tendering opportunities in one place, instead of searching on individual websites or making enquiries at different council departments and organisations.

Tenders being offered by hospitals and other NHS services, the police, fire service and Sheffield's two universities are also listed, alongside council contracts.