Content

10.1

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority are
making £150,000 available to Sheffield City Council with the
requirement that it must be spent directly on sustainable food
provision.
 
It is proposed that the SYMCA funding is used
to accelerate the implementation of the Food Access Plan.
Specifically, it will be used to develop sustainable local food
sourcing infrastructure by:
 
1.    
Investing in S6 food bank to give them capacity to purchase food at
scale on behalf of other food banks and food initiatives in the
city. This will benefit the food projects who take part by reducing
the cost of the food they require and reducing the time they must
spend sourcing food. In turn this will increase the resilience of
the emergency food relief system.

 
2.    
Investing in Food Works to enable them to scale up their surplus
food sourcing and develop a pantry model. Food Works pantries will
be rolled out in multiple locations across the city in partnership
with community organisations. This will increase the number of
people in our most disadvantaged communities that are able to
access affordable nutritious food.

 

 

10.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Finance
Committee approves the proposed funding allocations as set out in
paragraph 1.16 of the report.

 

 

10.3

Reasons for
decisions

 

 

10.3.1

Supporting food purchasing in bulk will build
the resilience of the emergency food system in Sheffield saving
food banks time and money.

 

 

10.3.2

The expansion of Food Works pantries allows us
to deliver on the commitments of the Food Access Plan to stimulate
a more diverse range of food provision and support. Delivery of
food pantries via Food Works rather than a national operator means
that we are investing in local infrastructure and resilience. It
also means that the model can be developed responsively and
collaboratively, taking into account
then eeds of the community partner
organisations who will host the pantries.

 

 

10.4

Alternatives
Considered and Rejected

 

 

10.4.1

Provide funding to The Bread and Butter Thing to implement 5 mobile
pantries across Sheffield. Whilst it was noted that the initiative
has many positive attributes and would bring benefits to
communities it was felt that investing in local infrastructure and
developing models of support that respond to the needs of local
food relief initiatives would bring greater long term benefit.

 

 

10.4.2

Continue the emergency food store that is
currently being hosted by S6 food bank on behalf of Sheffield City
Council. This would not meet the SYMCA requirement for the
development of sustainable food provision as it would mean
purchasing food on a one off basis
rather than investing in capability and infrastructure.

 

 

10.4.3

Divide the funding amongst existing food banks
This would not meet the SYMCA requirement for the development of
sustainable food provision as would likely be utilised for food and
ongoing running costs. There will be other grants schemes in the
near future that could be used in this way and we will ensure food banks are supported to
submit applications.