Sandwiched

They say that all roads lead to London, but it seems that, at least as far as Oxfordshire County Council is concerned, all sandwiches sold in their in-house Common Hall café within County Hall (pictured above) have to come from London!   I discovered this whilst trying to buy sandwiches some time ago and was told there were none available as the delivery had not arrived from London.  I therefore felt that it was important to raise this as a question to the Cabinet at their last meeting in December. My question was:

“Why are the sandwiches sold in the Common Hall café being bought from a company in London rather than being purchased locally according to the County's procurement rules? According to the Source Oxfordshire website, it states 'We are supporting the Federation of Small Businesses' Keep Trade Local campaign - the Oxford part of which was launched in November 2008.' This is certainly not consistent with that policy. It has also meant that there have been some days where there have been no sandwiches available because they have not arrived from London.” 

The full draft minutes with the answer to this question and my supplementary as to why they are not made in house can be found here.  This was picked up by the press and printed in today's Oxford Mail here. Not only does this not support local Oxfordshire businesses, but, given all the hoo-ha that was made in 2007 about reducing the council's carbon footprint, it is a bad idea from the environmental point of view.  I am now hoping that the council will look seriously at this issue and there will be a change in the future.