Collaborative Food Procurement Conference
Sponsored by Department of Children, Schools and Families
Tuesday 24th March 2009
ICC, Birmingham
The public sector spends around £2billion per year on food and drink. In its 2006 report Smarter food procurement in the public sector, the National Audit Office identified the scope for savings of £224million to be made by 2011 through a range of procurement measures including collaboration.
The Collaborative Food Procurement Conference is your opportunity to contribute to this important area of Government where efficiency and delivery of wider public policy objectives meet. You will discover how your organisation or sector can make significant savings by working with others locally, regionally and nationally. In a time of economic uncertainty, rising standards and the potential for shrinking budgets this could hardly be more apposite.
The conference will share examples of collaboration, examine enablers and barriers to collaboration, and explore other opportunities to generate real efficiencies. In addition, a series of keynote speeches by leading experts in the field will provide an overview of wider issues in food procurement, such as the Healthier Food Mark (Department for Health) and the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (Defra).
It is my great pleasure to host the conference, and I will take the opportunity to explain the Government's food procurement strategy and persuade you to join with us to deliver benefits together. Interactive seminars are planned to give you the opportunity to respond and to tell me how we can work together to take that strategy forward, which we cannot do without your support.
Kind Regards
Ian Taylor
DCSF Commercial Director and Chair of the Food Category Board