MD2132 GLA Food Programme 2017-18

1. The GLA Food team is responsible for writing and delivering food policy for London. The Food Programme is in line with priorities of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
2. The Food team budget was approved on 22^nd March 2017 and is made up of Flagship Boroughs £19k and £218k Food staff/general[1]. The 2 year Food Flagships programme, match funded by the GLA and DfE, concluded in March 2017 and it was agreed that £19k underspend would be reprofiled.
3. Food is London’s largest employer, with one in four jobs in the capital linked to food. Food manufacturing and processing is London’s second-largest manufacturing sector and food contributes nearly £20 billion per year to the London economy.
4. The GLA Food team will deliver the Food Programme, facilitate the new London Food Board and write the new London Food Strategy. These will all address the Mayor’s manifesto commitments to tackle childhood obesity and reduce the reliance of Londoners on food banks.
5. The London Food Board (a non-statutory advisory board) was established in 2004 to lead on food matters in the capital. The Food Board was reconfigured in March 2017 with members including leading figures from food production, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, academia and food charities. It advises the Mayor on the delivery of his Food Programme and is supporting and advising the GLA Food team on the development of a new Mayoral London Food Strategy.
6. The new London Food Strategy will help all Londoners to access good, healthy food, reduce food waste, help good food business to prosper and share the benefits of our diverse food culture across all our communities to keep London as a world leading city for food.
7. The Food Programme benefits from the leadership shown by the Chair of the London Food Board and the Board’s wide ranging and influential membership. The London Food Board adds considerable value to investment on food-related work through thought leadership, network facilitation and levering in additional funding.
8. The Food Programme has a strong track record delivering projects that make a difference in improving London’s food system and works to attract external funding and build influential partnerships.

2.1 The Food Programme in 2017/18 will:

• Address Mayoral manifesto commitments to reduce childhood obesity and reduce Londoners’ reliance on food banks. This will be achieved by supporting Sustain’s ‘Good Food for London’ and ‘Beyond the Food Bank’ reports, support for ten boroughs to develop Food Poverty Action Plans and working in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund for London to address school holiday hunger amongst children from low-income households.
• Support London to have a food system that offers opportunities for food businesses, for people to be trained to enter employment in the food sector and for food in London to be a positive force for the health, environment and community cohesion of the city.
• Showcase the excellence of London’s food producers through the Urban Food Awards and by promoting careers in the hospitality sector.
• Support food social enterprises and the role of food businesses in tackling obesity and in regeneration by working on Crowdfund London, the Healthier Catering Commitment and other policy priorities which may emerge.
• Help London to have a network of safer, highly-engaged communities working together through food growing to improve the skills, opportunities and quality of life for residents.
• Facilitate London to continue to be a world-class exponent of urban food policy, using the best of private, public and third sectors to make the food system work better for London’s economy, health and environment.
• Build on the success of the imminent Silver award from the Sustainable Food Cities network and strive to attain Gold in the future.
• Consult the London Food Board, its boroughs food group and other internal and external working groups to ensure that the Food Programme’s interventions and the new London Food Strategy are fully integrated and reflect the needs of different London population groups.
• Build on previous success to deliver a range of Mayoral priorities on environment, transport, regeneration, health, skills and culture that link into food.
• Continue to work to secure external income from suitable partners, in order to raise additional revenue for Food Programme priorities.

2.2 The table below sets out the main elements of the work programme, overall costs and immediate expenditure related decisions.

3.1 Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have ‘due Regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2 Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities are enshrined within the GLA’s programmes and activities according to the Mayor’s Framework for Equal Life Chances (June 2014) and the new mayor’s forthcoming Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. The framework aims to bring Londoners together rather than dividing them. It promotes outcomes for a diverse range of communities that seek to bring real changes to the quality of life for all Londoners. Projects under the Food Programme aim to engage as many Londoners as possible and many focus specifically on harder-to-reach groups. Elements of food programme projects which help to meet the needs of people sharing protected characteristics under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 include:

• Capital Growth: 80% of Capital Growth’s sites are in the more deprived wards and 40% are in the most deprived wards. A third of Capital Growth’s 2500+ spaces are in schools and a fifth are on housing estates or run through social housing providers. 7% of Capital Growth projects are working directly with people experiencing mental health problems.
• Food Poverty: In 2017/18 one area of focus is addressing food poverty for Londoners, both through supporting the ‘Beyond the Food Bank’ report and the Borough Food Poverty Support project. These areas of work will help map and profile food poverty and support boroughs to respond to the differential impact that food poverty has on certain communities and families.
• Schools Holiday Provision programme: 700,000 children in London live in poverty and obesity prevalence is twice as high for children living in the most deprived areas in London compared to those living in the least deprived areas. Working in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund for London, this is a targeted intervention to reduce inequalities experienced by London’s children and young people from low income households during the school holidays.
• Crowdfund London: Londoners experience stark and unacceptable differences in their well-being and length of life. Access to good food is identified as an issue in many areas of London which can have a significant impact on health inequalities. This innovative crowdfunding model will help food projects increase access to healthy and affordable food and meet local employment and skills needs, addressing economic and health inequalities in London. It will also support small food businesses to better access finance.
• The London Food Board: Members of the new Board work across London’s food system and represent the diversity and dynamism of London. Of the 20 members, 16 are women and 4 come from a black, Asian and minority (BAME) background. Given the positive contribution that the diverse communities of London bring to our food and culture, the composition and diversity of the London Food Board will ensure the London Food Strategy and the GLA’s Food Programme develop a better food system for all Londoners.

3.3 We will put in place mechanisms to help us continuously review the potential to make our existing and emerging projects advance equality of opportunity for groups which have characteristics noted in the Equality Act.

a) key risks and issues

1. The GLA will manage the overall operational aspects of the programmes, using its standard corporate approach to project management. The key risks and issues are outlined below:
   • The adequate integration of the new London Food Strategy into the statutory Mayoral Strategies is highly dependant on the cooperation and consultation with the relevant colleagues and teams across GLA group. Therefore, the GLA Food Team has formed an internal working group to consult officers from teams across the GLA to ensure that food is included as a cross-cutting theme in other statutory and non-statutory Mayoral strategies and vice versa.
   • Due to its small number of officers, the GLA Food Team could lack the resource and capacity to deliver the visions and ambitions of the upcoming new London Food Strategy. However, the GLA Food Team has historically worked effectively in partnerships with both internal and external stakeholders and will continue to do so to deliver the Food Programme. The Food Programme will contribute towards the ambitions of the London Food Strategy and the newly appointed London Food Board will also advise on policy and the Food Programme as well as share their insights and expertise with the Chair and the Food Team to shape the London Food Strategy and ensure its aims are both ambitious and deliverable.

b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

• In terms of Mayoral Strategies, individual projects will contribute towards:
• Implementation of priorities in the new London Food Strategy.
• Food-related elements of the new Health Inequalities Strategy particularly on childhood obesity, food access and the better health of all Londoners.
• The new Economic Development Strategy – food is a major employer and offers significant training and apprenticeship potential as well as high potential to increase business start-ups and innovation.
• The new Transport Strategy, including improving the way food industry vehicles in London operate making Londoners’ journeys healthier.
• The Environment Strategy – Food waste and the impact of the food system on climate change are both major challenges that food projects help to address.
• The London Plan, including policies on land for food, access to fresh food, hot food takeaways, transforming Londoners’ obesogenic food environments and more.
• The Culture Strategy – celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of London’s food cultures.
• Team London objectives to encourage and enable Londoners to volunteer in their communities.

c) impact assessments and consultations.

1. As part of the development process of the London Food Programme in 2017/18 and the upcoming new London Food Strategy, the GLA’s Food Team will consult with both internal and external partners. This is to ensure that the Food Programme interventions and Strategy are fully integrated and reflect the needs of different London population groups, including but not limited to: Londoners experiencing food poverty; schoolchildren who need access to a healthy diet, new and expectant mothers on low incomes; young people seeking employment; older people who may be engaged through the Programme’s community growing focus, amongst others.
2. The Food Team is based in the Economic and Business Policy Unit and will continue to work closely with the GLA Regeneration, Health, Environment, Planning, Intelligence and Culture teams. This will ensure that interventions under the Food Programme complement and maximise the impacts of ongoing programmes of work undertaken by these teams, such as work on crowdfunding, health inequalities and the reduction of food waste.

1. An allocation of £237,000 has been earmarked from the GLA budget to fund the food programme in 2017-18. It is currently held in the Economic Business Policy Unit.

2. The GLA will seek additional income via sponsorship and partner contributions to supplement / enhance the programme in 2017-18. It should be noted that no contractual commitments on enhancing the programme will be made until funding sources have been confirmed.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the GLA’s statutory powers concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic and social development, wealth creation or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

a. pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

b. consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and

c. consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it) section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3 Section 2 of this report indicates that the contribution of £237,000 to the GLA Food Team amounts to the provision of grant funding and not payment for works, supplies or services. Officers must ensure that:

6.3.1 the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code; and

6.3.2 appropriate funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and the recipient of the funding before any commitment to fund is made.

6.4 The GLA may seek sponsorship when exercising its section 30 general power under its power to charge third parties for discretionary services under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003 provided that the charges levied do not exceed the costs of provision.

6.5 Officers must ensure that they comply fully with all GLA HR/Head of Paid Service protocols in respect of any staffing proposals, in particular the need to gain all necessary approvals for the creation of any new posts.