Shakti Shah Email & Phone Number

Key Responsibilities:Stakeholder Engagement: • Lead discussions and consultations with food retailers regarding upcoming policy changes. • Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders in the food supply chain. • Act as the primary point of contact for food retailers, ensuring their views and concerns are effectively communicated to policymakers.Policy Development: • Work closely with policy teams to develop, refine, and implement policies affecting the retail and food to go sector. • Provide expert advice and insights on industry trends and challenges to inform policy decisions. • Ensure policies are designed to be practical, effective, and beneficial for both the government and the retail sector.Communication and Reporting: • Prepare and present detailed reports, briefings, and updates to senior government officials and ministers. • Ensure transparent and effective communication channels between the government and the retail sector. • Monitor and evaluate the impact of policies, providing feedback and recommendations for continuous improvement.

• Leading the design, development, and implementation of a new Fruit and Veg scheme, slated to replace the existing aid scheme set to expire in 2026.• Building and maintaining relationships with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring policy objectives align with the interests of all parties involved.• Championing sustainable and socially responsible practices within the scheme, aligning with broader environmental and social commitments.• Leveraging data-driven methodologies to evaluate and report on the impact of the new Fruit and Veg scheme on the industry and community at large.

London, England, United Kingdom

• Successfully headed a Secretariat team to conduct the UK Government's Independent Review into Labour Shortage within the food and drink sector.• Collaborated effectively with the Chair and Expert Panel, facilitating key stakeholder interviews and workforce surveys to collect robust qualitative and quantitative evidence.• Assisted the Chair and Expert Panel in composing a comprehensive final report in June 2023. This report detailed the gathered evidence and provided a series of non-binding, strategic recommendations for the Government's consideration.

- Leading a team to develop a clear and coherent border strategy for the food and drink sector, which considers new trade deals and looks at the impact proposed changes could have on supply chains, consumers, and producers.- Working closely with representative organisations, trade bodies and key businesses on shaping border related policy for the food and drink sector as part of the Government’s 2025 Border Strategy.- Developing strong policy expertise and providing advice and briefings to ministers, senior colleagues and communication team on border related issues.

London, England, United Kingdom

- Investigating the medium and long-term impacts of labour shortages in the food and drink sector through interviewing both internal and external stakeholders to get qualitative feedback on labour shortages and speaking through any mitigations which are in place.- Working with economic analysts to produce Impact Assessments which displayed a reasonable worst-case scenario of the impact a deficit of domestic labour would have on the UK food and drink sector.- Writing an internal paper on findings with a set of recommendations for the department to take forward to be able to address some of the challenges that the department faces over labour shortages over the next decade.- Recommendations from this project have been taken forward as part of the Government’s Food Strategy white paper.

London, England, United Kingdom

- Set-up an emergency Food Insecurity policy unit to look at the impacts Covid-19 would have on those that live in food insecure homes.- Worked with other Government departments to establish a Government Taskforce designed to bring through support for vulnerable individuals that had been impacted by Covid-19.- Leading a team of Policy Officials to develop and deliver a £32 million grant fund that supported front line charities to provide food for vulnerable families.- Nominated and won the “impact on Citizen” award at the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Awards for the work done in supporting vulnerable individuals.

London, United Kingdom

- Leading on three workstreams within the Food Security, Supply and Resilience team to support EU Exit planning.- Delivered a comprehensive communications strategy and press lines.- Identified key risks and mitigations of food supply chain disruption on vulnerable groups.- Worked with local authorities and Local Resilience Forum on planning for EU Exit, including representing Government at events.

London, United Kingdom

The job is split in to two roles: Ministerial Support and Information ManagementMinisterial SupportThe main aspect of this role is to anticipate and take the lead on all operational and logistical support for the Ministerial Private Offices by leading a virtual team across Departmental operational functionsInformation ManagementResponsible for leading and overseeing the implementation of strategy across all Ministerial Private Office

London, United Kingdom

- Supporting the Minister of State for food across a broad range of issues, including providing judgements and making recommendations on matters of policy, security and finance.- Engaging with directorates across Defra on live issues and ad hoc requests, as well as with various stakeholders across the food and drink supply chain.- Commissioning and drafting briefings for Ministers, across a broad range of topics and for a large variety of meetings and events- Being aware of key policy, management and operational issues across the food and drink supply chain.

- Manage own caseload of customers and being responsible for the level, frequency and intensity of contact with each customer.- Daily interviews with customers to aide them back in to sustained employment through various means such as identifying barriers, signposting to local provision, developing action plans, and giving advice on local labour market.- Challenging customers when needed and ensuring that all claimants are satisfying benefit conditionality on an on-going basis.

Postgraduate Degree, Public Policy Analysis

Ba (Hons), Business Studies

Activities and Societies: University of Hertfordshire Hindu Society Modules included Corporate Finance, Small Business Management, Project.