Warwickshire News Mine

And yesterday saw the county council’s Portfolio for Resources, Cllr Martin Heatley, hand-over the award to Chairman of the county council, Cllr Peter Barnes.

Cllr Heatley said: “Both Cllr Barnes and I are farmers who are committed to free-range farming, and I’m therefore delighted to see Warwickshire County Council commended for this work.

“As well as eggs I know that the county council is working hard to source as much food as possible locally to help the county’s producers and reduce our environmental impact.”
The Good Egg Awards have been developed by Compassion in World Farming, the leading farm animal welfare charity, to celebrate the commitment of companies and public sector bodies to stop using eggs from battery caged hens. 

Warwickshire’s pioneering move across its catering will ensure the hens supplying its eggs each year will be spared a life of misery in a cage. They will be free to carry out many of their natural behaviours, unlike hens kept in barren battery cage systems. 

Warwickshire County Council is one of a growing number of local authorities in the UK to receive a 2009 Good Egg Award. The recognition comes in the framework of Compassion in World Farming’s ‘Cage-free Councils’ campaign, which is gaining the support of a growing number of concerned citizens across Great Britain.

Compassion in World Farming’s Campaigns Co-ordinator, Eloise Shavelar said: "We congratulate Warwickshire for going free-range and hope that other councils will follow their example. All local authorities have a clear opportunity to lead the way in animal welfare standards, ahead of the 2012 EU ban on barren battery cages.

"Central and local government offices are important users of eggs – they employ over 2.5 million staff with most providing food for employees and to supply local contracts including schools, residential units and social services."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has recently encouraged public sector bodies to move away from using battery eggs whether used as shell eggs or in products containing eggs.
The issue of animal welfare in public spending has also been supported within the House of Commons. More than 150 MPs supported a motion tabled in 2008 calling on public bodies to procure food with higher standards of farm animal welfare.

The motion stated that battery eggs are no longer appropriate. 
Warwickshire County Council joins some of the UK’s top companies in becoming a 2009 Good Egg Award winner.  They include Debenhams, Little Chef, Starbucks Coffee, John Lewis and Virgin Trains.

Link to WCC