Fairtrade Progress

Brent Fairtrade Network will be meeting tonight in Brent Town Hall, so perhaps an update on Fairtrade is in order.  One of the Labour Party's manifesto committments was on Fairtrade, and this was duly incorporated in the Council's Corporate Strategy.

Previous efforts to make Brent a Fairtrade Borough had rather run into the sand, and I think that officers had downgraded the effort as a result.  The election of a new administration helped to reboot the effort.  Essentially, to achieve Fairtrade status Brent has to get lots of non-Council bodies to sign up.  We are currently struggling to get enough cafes to sell Fairtrade goods, enough schools to register and interest and above all enough religious organisations (since Brent has so many and of so many different kinds). However, we now have a plan in place to work through these problems and I am hopeful to achieve Fairtrade staatus some rime next year.