The topics up for debate include food quality and safety, staff recruitment and retention, and the actions needed to create lower carbon menus.
Underpinning all of these is the need for sustainable funding for the sector, a point which is sure to be brought into the conversations.
The debate informs the work of the pan-industry Public Sector Catering Alliance (PSCA) for the following year, and the gathering will also hear about work springing from last year’s debate.
This has seen the production of a series of short videos and social media content from industry leaders describing the fulfilling careers they have enjoyed in the sector.
The material is scheduled to be released early in the New Year as part of efforts to show catering students and young people more generally about the opportunities available across public sector catering.
The 2023 Top 20 ‘most influential’ list comprises:
- Anita Brown, chair of LACA, the school food people
- Brian Robb, chair of HCA
- Phil Rees-Jones, chair of TUCO
- Neel Radia, chair of the NACC
- Christopher Ross, chair of ASSIST FM
- Molly Shaher, chair of PACE
- Matthew White, chair of PSC Alliance
- Julian Edwards, chair of FCSI UK & I
- Sue Cawthray, PSC Lifetime Achievement Award winner
- Alexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food
- David Oliver, head of HMPS Catering (England & Wales)
- Phil Shelley, senior operational & policy manager – soft FM, NHS England
- Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU)
- Robin Mills, managing director of Compass UK & Ireland
- Sean Haley, chief executive of Sodexo UK & Ireland
- Jill Whittaker, executive chair at HIT Training
- Mo Baines, chief executive of the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE)
- Nadim & Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, Natasha Research Foundation
- Tim Smith, chair of the Food & Drink Sector Council
- Cathy Amos, head of customer marketing at Brakes
The Public Sector Catering ‘Most Influential’ event and the work of the PSCA is supported by a number of industry partners, which are: Bidfood, Brakes, Civica, Essential Cuisine, Falcon Foodservice, Hobart, Major International, Mapal Group, Meiko, Moffat Catering Equipment, Panasonic, Premier Foods, Radnor Hills, Unox, Valentine/Cuisinequip, Wafflemeister, Williams Refrigeration, Winterhalter, Youngs Seafood.