Southwark council step up on school food

Children enjoy a healthy school lunch. Credit: Jon Goldberg / Children's Food Campaign

Southwark council sign off on new bespoke £4m procurement framework to improve quality of school food.

Southwark council have approved a new procurement framework to help schools source and buy high quality healthy food, prioritising local businesses and better value for money.

On 17 June 2024, Southwark council pledged to develop a new framework that will transform how schools can source and pay for food services with a total estimated value of £4m. The framework will make it easier for schools to serve good quality, nutritious lunches that support students’ health and learning, by providing a system that gives schools more control over their catering contracts and the quality of food they are purchasing.

The new framework will:

simplify schools’ route to markets and suppliers
reduce the administrative burden on schools when going out to tender for food services
uphold high meal standards
raise wages and morale in school kitchens
improve access to locally-sourced produce and services from smaller businesses and community organisations

The framework will be available to all schools and academies in Southwark. This project is part of the council’s wider school meals transformation programme which launched in December 2021.

A bespoke school food procurement framework will give the council greater control over the sustainability of the food served to children in Southwark. Specifically, it will allow the council to specify contracts which meet London’s Food Purchasing Commitment and Southwark Sustainable Food Strategy requirements, including: supporting local sustainable caterers, suppliers and manufacturers; using council buying power to champion sustainable food; making it easier for local sustainable food businesses to access the school food market; reducing carbon emissions and food waste in line with local, national and international targets and offering ‘climate friendly’ school lunch menus.

News story on Southwark Council's website

Full School Food Procurement Framework

News • Food Poverty

Children enjoy a healthy school lunch. Credit: Jon Goldberg / Children's Food Campaign

Food Poverty: Championning people-powered projects that tackle the root causes of food poverty.

Press office

Isabel Rice
Campaign Coordinator
Food Poverty

Isabel joined Sustain in September 2022 to coordinate the London Food Poverty Campaign which highlights and encourages sustainable responses to food insecurity. Isabel works closely with local authorities and food partnerships on policy and practice to tackle the root causes of food poverty, as well as conducting lived experience work to inform recommendations. She leads on Good Food Local: the London report, which benchmarks council action on food and inspires leadership on food policy and practice in the capital.

Isabel also leads on the national Connecting Community Food Enterprises project, supporting sustainable development of community food projects, and encouraging partnership and social investment from councils and housing associations.

Isabel is a Registered Dietitian with a background in clinical and public health nutrition working with marginalised populations in London. She has undertaken research and advocacy work focusing on food insecurity in the UK, and management of frontline food aid provision. Isabel is also a committee member of the Public Health Specialist Group for the British Dietetic Association. Following a master’s degree in Nutrition for Global Health, Isabel was further inspired to work towards promoting sustainable food systems and reducing nutritional and health inequity. She has published work on improving access to health and nutrition services for disabled children in Uganda.

Staff profiles

Support our work

Your donation will help communities identify ways to alleviate food poverty and increase access to healthy food.

Donate