The Future of Public Sector Catering - Dave Oliver, head of prison catering in England and Wales

It may not be all doom and gloom, but there are still plenty of reasons why the public sector catering industry looks forward with a sense of apprehension.

As we build up to the inaugural Public Sector Catering Expo taking place in November, David Foad, editor of Public Sector Catering magazine, asked industry leaders to outline the challenges they currently face and forecast the ones still to come.

Dave Oliver, head of prison catering in England and Wales

Prison catering is, and always has been, unique. It is built around a central approach to policy, which makes us ‘the last man standing’ in this respect within the public sector.

As an overview, we deliver meals from a four-week pre-select menu offering five choices covering all religious, cultural and medical diets with a budget circa £2.15 per person. We have a national supply contract with Bidfood that serves us well, and it is no easy task for them to fit in with the all differing prison regimes and means of access.

The provision of three meals a day, providing mainly home-produced meals from kitchens designed for a cook-and-serve operation, remains the preferred option and I see no change to this in the short to medium term. New-build prisons have incorporated this style of catering.

What is changing in the short term, and it is something that will provide a more standardised approach, is educating the prisoners in regard to nutrition.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, working in conjunction with gymnasium and healthcare providers, is one of our principles and contributes to this important way of life.

We are shortly to start work with Public Health England looking at menus to find a balance. This feeds into the standardised recipes which are under development to offer our caterers a way of keeping within defined parameters. This will set meal delivery priority over the next five years.

We are developing an approach to in-house prisoner training within kitchens, which will provide job-ready staff for employment within the catering sector on release. Prison kitchens are staffed with prisoners and they provide the daily meals seven days a week for a local population up to 2,000.

Governors have devolved budgets now and can look at spending where they feel it is best placed. For catering services, that means maintaining minimum standards without suppressing individuality.

Looking forward, and at how prison catering might be carried out in the future, I believe a move towards centralised catering using regeneration techniques will begin to come in. It offers many advantages - both in terms of procurement and staffing.

You can meet the team at the PSC Expo in November and find out more about their work and the career opportunities for caterers within the prison service.