Agenda item

Presentation support by Lee Buggie, Public health specialist and Francesca Vale, Public health Practitioner food and health

Lee Buggie, Public Health Specialist, and Francesca Vale, Public Health Practitioner, provided an update on various initiatives and achievements around the Food and Health Strategy. Francesca began by discussing the growth of the partnership, highlighting their award for the township, which was the first in Greater Manchester. She also mentioned their recognition in Westminster and shared insights from their visit to Copenhagen, where they learned about the city's educational program that ensures 90% of food is organic.

Francesca then moved on to discuss the implementation of auto-enrolment for free school meals, which has benefited 200 children. She emphasized the need to address thresholds and universal credit to further improve the program. David Catterall's role in overseeing the Greater Manchester market partnership was also highlighted, focusing on school catering and working with other markets across the region.

The Right to Grow campaign was introduced, aiming to utilize unused council land for community growing projects. Legal teams have drafted a lease agreement for community growing, and a community growing page has been created to map sites for groups to use. The Fast-Food Takeaway Matrix, part of their food health strategy, was discussed, providing recommendations for fast food takeaways based on specific criteria. The Licensing Matrix, which links to the Fast-Food Takeaway Matrix, was also mentioned as a tool for considering healthier options for takeaways.

During the Q&A session, Councillor Tariq thanked Francesca for her contributions and acknowledged the hard work of David Catterall and Andrew Cowen. He also mentioned an upcoming visit on the 8th and 9th of July to showcase their food partnership event.

Councillor Smith inquired about the criteria for the Right to Grow campaign and whether there is a limit on the number of approvals. Lee Buggie responded that it would depend on council resources and public liabilities. Councillor Smith also inquired about using non-green spaces for town centre regeneration, to which Lee replied that they are considering all applications and public liabilities. Councillor Smith requested the involvement of children and young people in future initiatives.

Will Blandamer thanked the presenters and emphasized the importance of linking their initiatives to health scrutiny and the free school meals program. Councillor Pilkington asked about the difference between the Right to Grow campaign and the Incredible Edible initiative. Francesca explained that the Right to Grow campaign is led by the same force behind Incredible Edible and aims to be more robust and sustainable.

Councillor Southworth inquired about the support available for these initiatives, while Councillor Fitzgerald discussed the food partnership's access to food from farms and the role of community groups in making meals with food from food banks.

Actions and Agreements:

• The update provided by Francesca Vale and Lee Buggie was noted and appreciated.
• Further exploration of the Right to Grow campaign's criteria and potential expansion to non-green spaces will be undertaken.
• The involvement of children and young people in future initiatives will be considered.
• Continued collaboration with partners in Stockport and Salford to improve the free school meals program.