Toni Smith

Monday 21 April 2008

I am the Regional Co-ordinator for the South West of England, and I work to strengthen relationships with local authorities and other local and regional partners to improve the delivery of FSA food safety and healthy eating targets in communities.

The South West comprises all the counties and unitary authorities from Gloucestershire down to the Isles of Scilly and from Wiltshire and Dorset over to Somerset and Devon. It is the largest region in England – it covers such a wide area that people in the north of the region are closer to Scotland than to the tip of Cornwall.

Achieving the Agency’s vision of safer food and healthy eating for all is integral to the work we do in the South West – it is because of this vision, and that we can add value to current work at the national level, that the regional teams were set up. My role includes encouraging organisations with a food interest in the region to work together and show how collaborative working can deliver better results.

I have worked in public health since the 1980s, including public health manager roles in primary care trusts (PCTs) working on health inequalities, smoking, obesity strategies and increasing participation in physical activity.

I joined the Agency to develop the South West regional presence in July 2006. The experience I brought to the role was vital in interpreting how FSA messages can be best embedded locally.

Part of my role is to increase FSA headquarter's awareness of the issues facing local authorities and other food partners, such as some local authorities not being fully aware of the importance of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) in setting the food agenda. To help, we have worked with the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and the Office of Fair Trading to develop a regulatory guide to explain how local authorities can understand and deliver their LAA. Sharing intelligence like this has been essential.

My work includes a range of projects, such as holding county-wide events to bring together representatives from local authorities, the NHS, the voluntary sector and other community groups to talk about local food projects and share best practice. These events, typically attended by 50–100 people, help solve common problems and get people adding value to others’ projects.

Over the past year we have delivered many workshops to explain traffic light labelling to more than 2,000 public health professionals, including environmental health officers, and trading standards officers and community group representatives. After a practical exercise, where each person learned how to traffic light label three foods and had to guess how to traffic light label three foods (to show high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt), the consensus was that ‘the system is so simple’. The real benefit is that these supporters influence others in the region to use the labelling system when buying food, helping families make healthier eating choices.

My motivation comes from a desire to reduce health inequalities by making sure everyone has access to a healthier diet and to ensure their food is safe. It is essential that I meet and talk to the right people across the region, which means I have to travel a great deal. I wouldn't want to travel any less though; otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job properly.

I keep in regular touch with the Central Unit and the other regional teams throughout the week and by meeting up each month. Typically, I travel to FSA headquarters two or three times a month.

Following feedback from regional workshops, this year’s challenge is to introduce more effective communication channels with local authorities and other partners. With more regular contact, and more county-wide workshops, we can achieve this.

Since moving from the Republic of Ireland to England, I have always lived in the South West. It is a part of the country I have connected with and love, and I enjoy giving something back through my work.