Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation.

Councillor Hughes introduced the report and business model for the new social enterprise business. 

            Food poverty was defined as ‘people not having access to good fresh food by choice’, and referred to the definition ‘if you feed people well, they are more likely to get out of their crisis’.  It was known that for every £1 spent on processed food, 37p was added for diet related diseases that required treatment later on.

The County Council and partners, Clwyd Alyn Housing and Can Cook previously decided to provide support to those who were most vulnerable and who did not have access to good fresh food.  During the course of the Holiday Hungers campaign positive publicity was generated and over 17,000 meal were delivered to children in communities in the County who otherwise might have gone in need during that holiday period.  Due to the success of the 2018 campaign, it was repeated and the response had been much bigger in 2019.

Since then the Council and its partners had been exploring a number of options which would see progress maintained through the development of a longer term and sustainable solution to food poverty.

The business model, which was attached as a confidential appendix, was for a new social enterprise business with the three partners having equal rights for the management and delivery of the operation.  Food would be prepared in Flintshire through a number of hub locations with a main food preparation hub in the Shotton area.

The primary aim would be to reach and develop sustainable models for people to access good affordable fresh food, particularly linking in with work the Council did and services provided, such as:

·         Domiciliary care and linking food provision with care services;

·         Developing a transition programme from food aid to food purchase for vulnerable groups, i.e. homeless families;

·         To link in with services which support residents and embed support around food provision within those services; and

·         To use food provision as a catalyst to begin to tackle loneliness and isolation

Members welcomed the report and said it aligned to the Council Plan and being a Caring Council.

The Chief Executive thanked all of the officers involved in the project which would help to deal with social issues; the Council was keen to progress the project as soon as possible.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the proposal be endorsed and supported for a new Social Enterprise model which will make a significant contribution to reducing food poverty in the Council; and

(b)       That delegated authority be provided to the Chief Executive, in conjunction with the Leader of the Council, to approve the business plan, contracts and legal documents.