SECTOR LEADERSHIP

TRADEBODY SERVICES

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS SUPPORT

Funded business support projects

We apply for business support projects through Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Government Departments. These projects offer specialist sector support to improve business growth, job creation, innovation, and offer grants/funding to SMEs. Major projects include:

  • iNet – Provided funding and expertise to drive innovation in the sector – the iNet supported more than 80 SMEs based in D2N2 with grants and delivered over 1,000 instances of one-to-one business advice & guidance.

  • FEAST 1 and 2 – Offering grant funding, technical support and mentoring to SMEs across D2N2 and the South West. The first phase of the project ran from January 2016 to December 2018 and supported over 250 businesses, providing intensive support to 220 businesses and grants to over 100, leveraging almost £2.5m of private sector investment. This resulted in the creation of almost 160 new jobs in the sector. The second phase of the project will run until June 2023 and has so far supported 250 businesses and provided grants to 50 businesses.

  • Collaborate – Provided technical support and advice to SMEs across Leicester & Leicestershire. Delivery moved online during COVID-19, ensuring businesses continued to receive the support at a crucial time.

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

Supporting food and drink businesses from early stage producers through to established manufacturers

We provide a range of membership offers, providing affordable technical support, training and access to facilities to support industry growth.

  • Our Business Membership has been developed to provide food and drink businesses with the knowledge they need to deepen their food safety and quality management expertise as well as accessing hands-on technical support.

    Visit our Business Membership page for details.

  • Our Associate Membership enables suppliers of services and goods to engage with our network of food and drink businesses.

    Visit our Associate Membership page for details.

FOOD FROM ENGLAND

Working collaboratively with other regional food groups across the UK

We are actively involved and offer our support to the Food From England group, raising the profile of the food and drink industry at a Government level. As such, The Food & Drink Forum backs Food from England's call for the Government to support England’s independent food and drink sector amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Food from England has urged central Government to take action in the following areas:

  • Extend the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to the 30th of June 2023 – with trade usually picking up from April onwards, this would give businesses some breathing space.

  • Provide additional (grant funding) support to high-energy using food businesses to invest in a wide range of green energy solutions.

  • Extend the seasonal worker scheme beyond December 2022 across all sectors in the food and drink industry to avoid further (part) closures due to staffing shortages in 2023.

  • Devise a fairer business rate system that will support smaller businesses in the longer term.

  • Provide capacity-building support to regional food groups in England.

In addition to lobbying the Government for support, in December 2022, Food from England also ran a consumer campaign, urging customers to buy local and aupport our independent food and drink businesses.

Use the link for find our more about Food From England https://www.foodfromengland.co.uk/Upload and link policy document

HELPING TO DRIVE REGIONAL SECTOR GROWTH

Midlands Engine - Food and Drink Sector & Supply Chain

The Food & Drink Forum was pleased to contribute to the publication of the Midlands Engine Report, ‘Food and Drink Sector & Supply Chain’, which serves to influence government and wider policy in pursuit of building a brighter future for the food and drink industry, through growth and job creation.

Through the Future Food Alliance, the Food & Drink Forum have helped to paint a picture of the food and drink industry, which as a result, has underpinned its significance within the economy. By gaining a deeper understanding into the sector and supply chain, this has enabled the Midlands Engine to identify opportunities for growth and innovation. 

The report has identified that an estimated 857,000 jobs are linked directly to the food chain in the Midlands Engine region, equal to 17.6% of all employment, and that in 2020, the food and drink sector is estimated to have contributed around £32bn GVA to the Midlands Engine economy, over 13% of the total.

The Midlands Engine is the largest regional economy in the UK outside London, with a partnership that spans the heart of the UK. Working at scale, The Midlands Engine focuses on adding value – tackling the things that really matter in our region to drive prosperity for our communities and businesses. The Food & Drink Form supports the efforts of The Midlands Engine to act as a positive agent for economic, social, and environmental change.

The reports will support the industry’s opportunities to accelerate economic growth, ensuring that the food and drink industry voice is heard. Food and drink businesses in the Midlands Engine are well placed to respond to most of the major trends, given the breadth, diversity, and scale of its agri-food supply chain. The region has UK leading concentrations of agricultural production, food processing and is the UK’s largest logistics and distribution centre for food and drink supply chains. Growth opportunities include a focus on levelling up, using new technologies and investment to deliver higher-value, higher-skilled and better jobs. Taking advantage of key opportunities and overcoming barriers in the sector will require further investment and beneficial policy across the food chain, including support for efficient and sustainable UK production and innovation. By providing the support required for the ecosystem across the Midlands Engine, we can fuel and harness this potential future growth through innovation and sustainability, delivering a more resilient, self-sufficient, and continually growing food chain in the Midlands for wider UK benefit.

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