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Executive Summary
Background
1. In August 2004, East Ayrshire Council introduced a local food initiative at one of its primary schools, to explore the practicalities and benefits of providing as much local and fresh food as possible within a varied meal menu. In May 2005, the Council approved the roll-out of the scheme to a further 10 primary schools.
2. The pilot scheme is in line with Scottish Executive procurement advice that came into force in May 2004 that stated that buyers may legitimately specify requirements for freshness, delivery frequency, specific varieties and production standards. 1
3. East Ayrshire Council decided to split the food lots into nine rather than the previous four to attract as many smaller and local suppliers as possible.
4. The objectives of the research were:
- To evaluate a pilot scheme to encourage local suppliers to respond to advertised requirements for the supply of local and local organic food to schools in East Ayrshire
- To establish the views of children/parents on the changes to the school meals service resulting from the pilot scheme
- To assess the degree to which the findings can be generalised to other local authorities
5. To meet these objectives ADAS conducted five stages of fieldwork between October 2005 and March 2006, interviewing producers, council officers, and, at each of the 11 schools involved in the initiative, the project catering managers, head teachers, parents and children. All of this survey work was supported by further research among local authorities in Scotland.
Evaluation of the pilot scheme to encourage local suppliers to respond to advertised requirements for the supply of local and local organic food to schools in East Ayrshire
6. To meet this objective ADAS surveyed producers, caterers, head teachers and the key local Council staff involved in the pilot to establish, among other things, the merits of the scheme, and attitudes, incentives and barriers to supplying local food to schools.
Producers
7. The producers were asked their views on:
- Interest in supplying ingredients for school meals
- Previous tendering and attitudes to supplying in the future
- Incentives and barriers to tendering
8. The survey showed that there are some very real barriers for some of the producers who may be willing to supply schools if drawn in to the tendering process. There are also, however, some perceived barriers that seem to be misconceptions, for example founded in old procurement practice.
9. The survey has shown that there may be quick wins to be gained in breaking these perceptions of what it means to supply schools, in advertising, and in supporting those completing future tender documents.
Catering managers and head teachers
10. These groups were asked their views on local food supply and its impact on the schools.
11. The survey showed that catering managers felt that the quality of ingredients supplied and the service from suppliers was almost universally high.
12. The survey showed that school staff felt that the 'localness' and freshness of produce is driving the better quality of product and service that they are experiencing and creating beneficial links between School, Community and Environment.
13. Allowing for some concerns over out-of-season sourcing, that are not unique to the schools in this scheme, the quality of produce procured though local sourcing is considered by catering staff to be superior to that from previous suppliers.
14. Pressure on kitchen staff to adapt to the new way of preparing meals has not been a major issue.
Views of council officers
15. Council officers were asked to:
- Comment on the reasoning behind the scheme and its implementation
- Describe the constraints faced during the tendering process and the marketing and response to the scheme
16. The survey showed that the Council is still working toward its primary goals, to improve the health of primary school children, and to educate them about food. Communication with children and their parents will remain key in doing this.
17. There has been a small but encouraging rise in uptake of school meals from autumn 2004 to autumn 2005 in the 11 primary schools in the local food initiative.
18. The tendering process in summer 2005 attracted at least 2 competitive tenders for all but 3 of the 9 lots offered. Almost all of those now supplying the 11 schools in the initiative are indeed Ayrshire-based suppliers.
19. In accordance with EU procurement rules, the Council is not permitted when awarding contracts to take into account the distance food will travel. It is true to say, however, that the pilot study has led to increased participation by local suppliers, a consequence of which has been a reduction in the distance the food has travelled. The Council's in-house evaluation of the scheme suggests that this reduction is on average two-thirds.
20. The Council reports little or no increase in labour arising from the local foods initiative throughout the schools in the pilot, though that may change in a wider roll-out.
21. Factors to be considered in the future include:
- Control of costs, including considering the consequences of a wider roll-out
- Reaching out to parents & children, promoting the scheme and increasing uptake of school meals
- Ensuring that all contracted suppliers can maintain the supply of foodstuffs in the quantities required
- Those involved in school meal procurement could increase the success of tendering by accommodating some producers with only a limited distribution capability or a limited portfolio of products
Establishing the views of children/parents on the changes to the school meals service resulting from the pilot scheme
22. Parents and Schoolchildren were asked their views on:
- Whether there was a change in quality of school meals since the pilot was introduced
- (for parents only) Local food benefits and the importance of local sourcing
23. Parents' and children's views of the local food in schools scheme are sufficiently positive to be seen as a mandate for the Council's efforts to improve the quality of school meals.
- Parents in East Ayrshire feel that the local foods in primary schools scheme is a good use of their Council's money; a clear majority think that this is the case
- Most children in the 11 primary schools in the local foods scheme agree that school meals taste better now than before the pilot scheme was introduced
- The majority of parents and children agree that school dinners are healthier, and that ingredients for school dinners should be sourced locally
24. Children would like more education on local sourcing and how this may benefit the environment.
25. Good communication is essential in making parents in East Ayrshire more aware of the use of local food within school meals.
- Many parents would take the opportunity to sample the 'new' school dinners; this may also help to encourage uptake amongst children
Assessing the degree to which the findings can be generalised to other local authorities
26. East Ayrshire is very much a 'mid-range' authority in Scotland, in terms of school and pupil numbers, its mix of urban and rural areas, and its uptake of school meals. This will allow many results to be read across to other authorities.
27. The predominant model used by the other authorities surveyed was the use of one common buying agency ( ABC the authorities buying consortium), which purchases commodities from a range of different contracted producers for supply to schools across each whole local authority area. Only a few authorities used a mixed model scheme.
28. When asked about the main drivers for school meals, local authority respondents stated that it was value for money and meeting nutritional standards as set out in Hungry for Success. Secondary drivers were an ambition to include local sourcing where possible and in once case to extended to organic and fair-trade products.
29. In the eyes of other local authorities, barriers to local procurement include increased cost of local produce and administration, difficulties in attracting bidders for contracts, and EU Procurement rules hindering local supply.
30. In commenting on East Ayrshire's pilot scheme, the majority of other councils saw merit in their approach, but the main issues about barriers stated in the point above were often voiced again.
31. When asked about what parts of the East Ayrshire pilot scheme they would like to know more about, the three main issues expressed by councils were, (i) the financial impact of using local suppliers, (ii) structuring contracts to encourage local supply, and (iii) nutritional benefits to this approach.
32. The East Ayrshire pilot has shown that ingredient and administration costs have gone up modestly, though only within the range that many Local Authorities are already paying. For example, despite the cost of ingredients rising during the pilot, the costs still fall within the range of ingredient costs found in other local authorities.
33. If these barriers were overcome, it would suggest existing suppliers to other authorities could be encouraged to source produce from as many local producers as possible.
Conclusions
34. This study has shown the procurement approach adopted by East Ayrshire Council has been achieved within EU procurement rules with the following benefits being achieved.
Benefits - quality of ingredients
- The approach has raised the quality of ingredients, supporting the use of more fresh ingredients in school meals
- The schools in the initiative have comfortably exceeded the Soil Association's Food For Life targets on use of unprocessed, local, and organic food
Benefits - social aspects
- The social benefits felt by children, parents and teachers seem to be driven by the 'freshness & healthiness' of the food supply, strongly linked to its 'local' sources. 'Organic' has been only a secondary driver, suggesting that social benefits can be achieved without added constraints on supply and cost from any organic requirement.
- The initiative has shown that social benefits can be achieved in areas that suffer from economic and social deprivation
Benefits - environmental aspects
- The approach used in East Ayrshire seems to have generated less packaging waste, increased participation of local suppliers causing a reduction in the distances that food has travelled, and achievement of some supply chains based entirely within East Ayrshire
Benefits - economic aspects
- The limited scale of the initiative across 11 schools (out of a total of 47 primary schools in the authority area) has resulted in minimal extra staff requirement by local producers so far, but extension of the scheme could certainly result in increased employment
- There were nonetheless some concerns regarding the uptake to the tendering process
- The number of Expressions of Interest and tenders submitted (10 tenders across the 9 lots) was lower than the Council would have liked
- This can be attributed to suppliers' negative pre-conceptions of the procurement process, and the challenges to the commissioning authority of ensuring compliance with EU procurement law
- Many of the issues can be addressed through better communication as well as business support from agencies to address issues such as lack of skills
- With regard to cost - the overall cost of ingredients has risen from 59p to 71.9p, due in part to organic sourcing, but this falls within the range of ingredient costs reported by other Scottish Local Authorities for conventional models of procurement
Recommendations
35. This study has provided evidence on the benefits of local food procurement in East Ayrshire, specifically the improvement of the quality of ingredients. Other benefits include a reduction in waste and a reduction in the distances that food has travelled given the increased participation of local suppliers. Although the scheme has been more expensive to implement, the cost still falls within the budget that other local authorities spend on ingredients.
36. It is therefore recommended that this evidence should be used as a basis to extend local procurement to all primary schools within East Ayrshire.
37. If the programme was to be rolled out to other Scottish local authorities the following issues should be considered:
Supplier development
38. Encouraging collaboration between suppliers to address issues such as continuity of supply, distribution and routes to market should ensure greater response to future food supply tendering.
39. Greater promotion of Public Sector Food Procurement opportunities at 'Meet the Buyer' events or information sessions related to specific tenders may encourage participation in tendering and development of skills.
40. Business support organisations have a role in supporting and training businesses in grasping this opportunity. Whatever business support outlets are used, they must promote the right skills with regard to Public Sector Food Procurement tendering procedure.
Further research and information dissemination
41. The results from the pilot are applicable to all local authorities whether they are predominantly urban, rural or a mixture. The social benefits that food initiatives can bring are cross-cutting. These benefits are not always taken into account when decisions around school meal supply are made, as they do not have an obvious associated monetary value. Further evidence of the monetary value of the economic, social and environmental impacts of local procurement will be crucial in encouraging local authorities to adopt new practices.
42. Technical and administrative issues related to encouraging local supply include the need to review existing tender documents and product specifications to encourage interest to supplying schools. A summary of key methods of making tender documentation more 'user friendly', and evaluation criteria, should be disseminated to Local Authorities. The use of contract clauses and evaluation criteria should be studied and the results disseminated to other Local Authorities or other public sector bodies that may benefit from sharing best practice.
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