Issue - items at meetings - Universal Free School Meals

Report of the Director of Children’s Services.

16.1         Steve Healey, Head of Admissions and Transport presented the report to Members and answered questions.

16.2         In answer to a question on the take up figures for school meals and the differences between primary and secondary schools Members were informed that some secondary pupils could leave the premises for lunch and that meals taken in an extended morning break were not recorded. It was noted how regions varied, for instance West Sussex had for a period stopped serving hot school meals but had now reintroduced them. Schools closure days were not recorded within the statistics and it was noted that as a result the take up of free school meals was higher than it appeared although there was still much to be done to improve take up.

16.3         In response to a question as to why the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) are supplying 3 secondary schools and not small independent companies, Members were told how this was written into their contracts which covered a range of services not just school meals, e.g. cleaning contracts etc.

A Member commented how useful it was to have the key determinants of whether pupils had lunch or not, and how there was work to do on this. Members were informed how an evolving rolling programme was in place and the School Meals Manager and Monitoring Officer  would check on the varying aspects of school meals, from dining room noise, how attractive the food was, how long the wait times were, to giving nutritional advice to staff, plus monitoring kitchen standards.

16.4         It was noted how the cashless payment system would be able to assist in learning more about pupils eating habits in relation to school meals.

16.5         Kenya Simpson-Martin (Youth Council representative) questioned whether school meals were good value for money compared to healthy and similar sized portions in supermarkets. It was pointed out that the cost of a school meal would include the cost of the food (for a two course meal), labour, preparing the dining furniture, cooking serving and washing up. It was felt that £2 for 2 courses was good value.

16.6         Kenya Simpson-Martin (Youth Council representative) asked why pizza and pasta dishes were expensive at schools and how supermarkets charged less for such items, it was noted that large supermarkets could have loss leaders, thus making their money on other sales.

16.7         Rohan Lowe (Youth Council representative) questioned how the incentive scheme to encouraging children to eat more and fruit and vegetables would work, Members were told that a reward card scheme and stickers would be given out each time a pupil ate fruit or vegetables with prizes at the end. It was noted that primary schools liked participating in such schemes.

16.8         In answer to a question on whether funding will be made available for free school meals for all on a trial basis in a local school, it was noted that the installation of a cashless system would be more useful at this stage to learn about pupil eating habits before considering such a pilot scheme. 

16.9         In response to whether there was a target for the uptake of school meals, Members were told that higher than 50% would be preferable, and while there were no set targets work was taking place on a variety of initiatives to improve quality and take up for both free and paid meals.

16.10    In answer to a question on what safeguards were in place to ensure that entitled pupils received their free meals, Members noted that letters and flyers were sent regularly to parents and that schools were active in promoting free meals to low income families; low income families would receive information on free school meals.

16.11    RESOLVED-

(1)               The Committee noted the report.

(2)               It was agreed to receive an update on the take up of School  Meals and the progress of the cashless system in a year’s time.

(3)               The Committee agreed to receive information from Public Health on how Body Mass Index relates to deprivation and to the school meal take up.