LACA National School Food Show, Birmingham, 3rd & 4th July 2024
The LACA Main Event Conference was held in Birmingham on 3rd & 4th July 2024 at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel and colleagues from TLC’s Schools Education Catering team attended.
The main purpose of this event is to support the development of the school meals service. and to explore strategies to ensure that ALL children and young people receive the absolute best school food to support their growth and learning.
This is the only national event dedicated to the school food sector and this year’s theme was “Levelling Up School Food“. We have all experienced significant cost increases on our food bills at home, and this applies to the food industry too. In addition to staffing shortages, and funding shortfalls, providing nutritious meals to children has become increasingly challenging. In response to these challenges, LACA launched a campaign urging all political parties to commit to a minimum funding level of PS3 per meal (index linked) in their general election manifestos.
LACA is calling on the government to standardise school meal funding across all four UK nations. The school caterers’ association is campaigning for the new administration to commit to a minimum funding level of £3 per meal per child in the face of significant cost increases and staff shortages at educational sites.
Currently English schools outside London receive £2.53 per pupil per meal (London’s funding will rise to £3 from September), while Northern Irish schools are on £2.60, Welsh sites obtain £3.20 and Scottish schools receive £3.30.
At the LACA Main Event, Anita Brown, Catering and Cleaning Service Manager at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, and outgoing LACA National Chair, told delegates: “Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, are not doing anything different to England, they’re just better funded. Someone somewhere is currently subsidising that gap and if it’s not schools, it’s parents or the local authority.”
As we are a provider of school education catering services, this was a significant event for Totally Local Company colleagues to attend, to not only share best practice, but also as a route to find out how our service can navigate through the current landscape.
The show was open to all school caterers, managers, and contract caterers to attend free of charge.
The 2-day conference provided free workshops and LACA Live cooking demonstration sessions. There were opportunities to engage in thought-provoking and inspirational seminars delivered by industry leading experts.
The School Food Show runs alongside the Forum and is the only exhibition dedicated 100% to the school food sector and offers individuals the chance to catch up with industry suppliers to discuss new products, and source new ideas. This show also enabled TLC colleagues to experience unrivalled networking opportunities with suppliers.
Jayne Stubbs, TLC School Catering Manager said, “Attending the LACA event and conference last week reinforced our commitment to delivering exceptional catering services to the education sector. At Totally Local Company, we understand the unique needs of schools and we are dedicated to ensuring we provide nutritious, high-quality meals that support young people’s well-being and academic success”.
Attendees were able to reunite and connect with colleagues to discuss the issues facing education caterers nationwide and had the chance to celebrate the
achievements of industry peers at the LACA Awards for Excellence dinner.
The LACA Main Event also saw the School Chef of the Year 2024 and LACA Awards for Excellence presented. The LACA Awards for Excellence dinner was held on the evening of 4 July to celebrate the achievements of industry colleagues.
Debbie Nicoll, our very own LACA Bursary Winner for the Northwest, was selected earlier this year to receive the LACA Bursary Award and she was present to celebrate her achievements along with other award winners from across the UK.
Debbie said, “Wow what fab few days I’ve had at LACA 2024! From seeing so many people in one place passionate about school meals, partaking in workshops about key topics, viewing the exhibition and gaining knowledge and new ideas to bring back to the kitchen, even meeting Shirley Ballas who is dedicated to the campaign for free school meals for all children. One of the key topics of the conference that sticks in my mind is the difference in funding across the UK for free school meals. In Scotland they receive £3.30 whereas here in England it’s £2.53 – A massive difference of 73p! LACA are continuing their mission to increase the funding across the UK, so it is equal, and index linked across the four nations.
Thank you to our TLC colleagues for attending the LACA event which provided great networking opportunities for them to meet with like-minded people working and sharing best practice in the industry.
About LACA
LACA was established in 1990 and is the leading professional body representing over 1000 members drawn from across the school food sector representing public sector and private contract caterers and suppliers to schools, academies, and MATs across the UK. Its members are providers of services to the education catering sector of England, Wales, and Scotland (the Northern Ireland region is currently dormant).
