School Food Trust cut as government wields quango axe

Minister for the Cabinet Officer Francis Maude announced today that a range of ‘arms-length bodies’ or quangos will be cut, including the School Food Trust (SFT).

The SFT – which was established in 2005 to promote the education and health of children by improving the quality of food in schools – was asked to cut its Department of Education 2010 budget from £8.65m to £7.65m earlier in the year, but expected to continue to receive government funding.

However, it will now cease to be a NDPB, but will (according to the Cabinet Office) continue as a charity “with the potential to become a community interest company”.​

The SFT is perhaps the most high-profile member of a food-related quango casualty list that also includes the Pesticide Residues Committee; the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment; the Advisory Committee on Organic Standards; the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales and the Health Protection Agency.

SFT welcomes annoucement​

SFT director of communications, Hannah MacLachlan told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the body was "welcoming the announcement today, since it allows us to carry on with the work we're doing. A lot's been achieved, but we still feel there's a lot more to do."​

MacLachlan said that, technically speaking, the SFT had been a charity since it was established in 2005, where around £5m of funding currently comes from the Big Lottery. She said the balance supplied to the SFT as a NDPB of "just under £6m" ​will be lost at the end of this financial year, but said that ways of making up the shortfall had been identified.

"Quite a lot of our work is lottery funded, and as a newly constituted community interest company, we will be able to charge for some of our services." ​MacLachland added that SFT still hopes to pick up some funding from the Department of Education by doing some work for it, although precise details depend upon the effects of next week's comprehensive spending review (CSR).

Nonetheless, wider paid-for services could include providing schools with specific advice on how to improve food, the layout of dining areas and efficiency in providing school meals, the last of which is "obviously important given the current economic climate."​

Asked whether cessation of NDPB status would mean job cuts, MacLachland said: "I think the organisation will look very different next year, and we'll have to think about the best way of reorganising things. But it's a little early to speculate at this stage, because it really depends on the precise details of next week's CSR."​

Government failing on school food?​

Christine Haigh of the Children’s Food Campaign was less positive about the SFT's reincarnation: “This announcement is yet more evidence that the new government has failed to recognise the importance of school food. The SFT has played an important role in transforming school food over the last few years, but sadly this work is far from complete.​

“While we are pleased that the School Food Trust will continue to exist as a charity, we are well aware that charities lack the status and security of funding that children’s health deserves.”​

Meanwhille, DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) is responsible for many of the food-related quangos cut, with the number it now oversees cut in half. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:

"The changes announced today reflect the government's view that it should only carry out those functions which only government should do, while harnessing the power of civil society and the private sector to help deliver DEFRA's objectives."​

Life after (quango) death?​

• The Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC): Reconstituted as expert committee within DEFRA​: The PRC advises ministers and the Chemicals Regulation Directorate and the Food Standards Agency on the planning of surveillance programmes for pesticide residues on foods and the evaluation of the results. It also advised on procedures for sampling, sample processing and new methods of analysis.

• The Advisory Committee on Organic Standards (ACOS): Abolished.​ ACOS was a non-executive, non departmental public body which provides advice on the development and implementation of organic standards. It also assisted DEFRA - to which all its duties are now devolved - with the approval and control of the organic inspection bodies that license organic operators.

• The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN): Reconstituted as DOH/ Public Health Service expert committee. ​SACN was an independent expert committee that provided advice to the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Health, on nutritional issues such as the addition of folic acid to foodstuffs.

• The Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COM):​ Reconstituted as DOH/ Public Health Service expert committee. ​COM was an independent advisory committee of doctors and scientists that gave advice to government departments and agencies on the potential mutagenicity of chemicals, from natural products to new synthetic chemicals used in pesticides or pharmaceuticals.

• The Agricultural Wages Board (AWB):​ Abolished​: The AWB was an independent body with a statutory obligation to fix minimum wages for workers employed in agriculture in England and Wales. Constituted under DEFRA, it also had discretionary powers to decide other terms and conditions of employment such as holidays and sick pay.

• Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC): Reconstituted as DEFRA committee:​ An independent advisory body that reviews the welfare of farm animals and advise the government of any legislative or other changes that may be necessary.

• National Standing Committee on Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FANGR): Reconstituted as DEFRA committee:​ provided advice to Government and interested parties on issues relating to farm animal genetic resources.

• Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB): future still under consideration through 'debate with industry': ​DEFRA quango that improves farm efficiency and competitiveness, supply chain transparency, undertakes marketing work to stimulate demand and develops export market openings.