Anita Brown officially takes over as chair of Public Sector Catering Alliance
The two were part of yesterday's (29th January) roundtable discussion among the Top 20 'most influential' people in public sector catering at the House of Commons, which also marked the handover between them. The annual event helps shape the agenda for the Alliance for the year ahead.
Following the two-hour discussion Anita told the meeting: "There are two key takeaways from today - in terms of what we do as an alliance. One is we no longer wait for an invitation to be part of the conversation, we start trying to knock down some doors.
"And we need to start working groups to tackle particular issues such as fairer school meal funding, starting an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Public Sector Catering, and workforce development."
In her day job, Anita is the local government officer at Stockton-on-Tees Borough. She started as a school cook in what she calls ‘the days of endless budgets and no standards’.
Over the years Anita has seen lots of changes through Best Value and Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT). Stockton on Tees Borough Council provides school meals to 50 schools & academies across the borough meeting the needs of their diverse communities.
During her time as chair of LACA, the school meals industry dealt with difficult times with the cost of living crisis, problems with recruitment and added pressures coming from food supplies. Anita campaigned for increased free school meals funding equity across the UK’s four nations.
Anita gave evidence at the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee during a meeting at the House of Lords in 2024. She highlighted the important role that nutritious school food plays in the health of young people.
The Public Sector Catering Alliance offers a collaborative forum and lobbying voice on issues of common interest across education, health and social care, prisons and the military.
The principal associations driving the Alliance are: The School Food People (LACA), the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO), ASSIST FM (local authority providers in Scotland), and the Professional Association for Catering Education (PACE).