Select Committee; Food

Yesterday we had our Select Committee meeting on the subject of unfairness and issues surrounding Food in Plymouth.

The results were interesting and we found some definite issues which need to be focused upon in our recommendations. One of the most prominent being that everything needs to be ‘linked up’. Charity organisations have no clear lists or contacts within other charity organisations and the benefits of them connecting will be far greater than what is achieved at the moment. Charities would also benefit from having access to results gathered by research conducted by organisations such as the university. Better connectivity in Plymouth will only help to improve the services provided by all.

Another point raised is that there needs to be a central point for these organisations to have access to which will help to aid the connectivity and ‘joining up’ of organisations.

There were other issues which were also discussed such as food in schools, poorer families going to food banks and the stigma attached to these and the rate of obesity in the area – to name a few.

A huge thank you to our experts Dr. Clare Pettinger from the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Food Partnership, Brenda Carter from Plymouth Foodbank and Geoffrey Read and Charlie Taylor from Devon and Cornwall Food Association.