from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2008
A prize-winning local food project, which was closed down last week because of a funding shortfall, has been given an eleventh-hour reprieve after an investigation by the Sunday Herald.
On Friday morning Highlands and Islands Local Food Network (HILFN) was “gutted” at having to cancel a £60,000 apprenticeship scheme for local food producers. But by Friday afternoon crucial funding had been reinstated, putting the scheme back on track.
The Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) office covering Inverness and east highland reversed an earlier decision not to fund six apprentices from their area to join the year-long training scheme. This means that the scheme can now go ahead, to the delight of its organisers.
“This is very unexpected and very welcome news,” said Jo Hunt, network leader for HILFN. “We’re glad that the apprentices can now commence training and that we have support from all areas of HIE.”
He added: “It just highlights the need to work together in a planned and consistent way, if we are going to meet consumers’ aspirations for good local food.”
The abrupt change of heart by the HIE Inverness office followed a series of inquiries last week by the Sunday Herald. The matter had been “reviewed”, admitted an HIE spokeswoman, though she declined to explain why it had happened so quickly.
She said: “Following discussions with other area teams on the value of the Highlands and Islands Local Food Network training course and in recognition of the level of interest from the Inverness area, HIE Inverness and East Highland has agreed to participate in the funding package for this scheme for 2008/09.”
The apprenticeship scheme is designed to give growers the skills to cultivate and sell their food direct to local consumers. Last year it led to the creation of seven new businesses and won a highlands and islands food and drink innovation award.
This year 15 out of more than a hundred applicants from across the highlands and islands were selected to take part in the scheme. Tutors were booked and sessions at more than 30 venues were arranged.
But a last-minute refusal by HIE Inverness and East Highland to fund their apprentices to the tune of £18,000 caused the whole scheme to be scrapped several days ago. HILFN was told that funding would not be in accord with the Scottish government’s new economic policy (1.1MB pdf) favouring the support of big businesses.
Would-be apprentices such as Gill Bleasdale, a 36-year-old single parent from Tain, were distraught to learn they would no longer go on the course. Even though it has been resurrected, she can't take part because childcare arrangements she'd made have fallen through.
“I am delighted for the others that they can now do the apprenticeship,” Bleasdale said. “I just think that the HIE has no right to mess around with people like this.”
Friday’s U-turn by HIE Inverness and East Highland may have been influenced by the fact that four other HIE offices had agreed to fund apprenticeships this year. Some insiders suspect privately that ministers put pressure on HIE, causing senior managers to “run around like headless chickens”. The Scottish government, declined to comment.
According to HILFN’s Jo Hunt, the apprenticeship scheme was vital to help more farmers and crofters to grow and sell food in their communities. Demand for local vegetables far outstrips supply in the highlands.
The flip-flopping over the scheme was symptomatic of a wider problem, he argued. “All the public bodies we work with in highland want to use local food but regulation and conflicting policy direction means they find it very difficult to do so,” he said.
Last year a bid by HILFN to supply cheese, eggs, meat and vegetables to more than 200 schools and other Highland Council premises was rejected in favour of a bid from the US-owned Brakes Group in Ashford, Kent. Councillors blamed public procurement regulations for not allowing them to take account of where the food was produced.
A government-funded scheme enabling GPs to prescribe locally-grown fruit and vegetable boxes to patients to combat heart problems or high cholesterol levels has also floundered. It couldn’t be continued after a six-month pilot because health service rules only allow doctors’ prescription budgets to be spent on drugs, not food.
“Thousands of kids in highland schools could be eating fresh and local right now – if it wasn’t for public procurement regulations,” said Hunt. “Hundreds of people with diet-related illnesses could be eating more healthily – if it wasn’t for rules on how doctors can spend their prescription budgets.”
He welcomed the Scottish government’s discussion on developing a new food policy, and its focus on healthier and more local food. “The next couple of years could see a dramatic increase in the use and support for good food from local producers from a range of public bodies,” he argued. “But it will only happen if they can clear away the barriers that currently stand in the way.”
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