Caterers pleased by extra funding

By Gary Eason
Education editor, BBC News website

Ministers want fresh ingredients to be prepared on school premises

School meal providers and campaigners say they are delighted with the extra money the government is putting into improving school lunches in England.

It was a chance to improve ingredients and extend services, the Local Authority Caterers Association said.

It hoped it would allow kitchens to be rebuilt in more than 20 areas which have no primary school meals service.

The Soil Association campaign group said the announcement was "what we have been aiming for".

'Significant step forward'

Local authority caterers' spokeswoman Hazel Green said they would be concerned to see that the money did go where it was intended.

It's not just about ingredients, it's about rebuilding the kitchens Local authority caterers

"But that's not to be negative - we are delighted that at last there's realistic investment."

It was not only the extra money for fresh ingredients that was important, but also the proposals that kitchens would be improved and staff would get extra training and also the extra hours necessary to prepare fresh food.

"We have got to put kitchens back in schools that only have classrooms," she added.

"Clearly if this is to apply across the board then it has got to apply to those areas currently not providing a school meals service.

"It's not just about ingredients, it's about rebuilding the kitchens.

"This is all throwing a new light on the service, and how areas are going to respond is going to be interesting."

Restoration costs

The Soil Association, which promotes organic food, produced a report in 2003 describing primary school lunches as "muck off a truck".

It said on Wednesday it was working with LEAs and hundreds of schools to ensure they served unprocessed fresh food.

NO AREA-WIDE PRIMARY SCHOOL MEALS Brent Buckinghamshire Dorset: Poole & Bournemouth East Sussex Essex Hackney Harrow Herefordshire Hillingdon Kingston upon Thames Lincolnshire N.E. Lincolnshire Milton Keynes Northamptonshire Peterborough Somerset Southend-on-Sea Southwark Swindon West Sussex Worcestershire Source: Soil Association

Its policy projects co-ordinator, Emma Noble, said many areas had no LEA-wide hot meals service.

Secondary schools were typically big enough either to cater for themselves or buy in food from a catering company.

But primary schools often could not and many had converted their kitchens to classrooms or - in a twist on "chips with everything" - IT suites for computer equipment.

Restoring catering facilities might cost anywhere between £500 to £50,000 per school depending on what was needed, she said.

The picture was very varied. Essex, for example, had ended its LEA-wide meals service contract for primary schools last year.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said responsibility for school meals rested with governing bodies.

It had not yet received any information on how the new money would affect the area.

Parents' views

Kents Hill Junior School, Benfleet, is one of 10 infant and junior schools in Essex which got together and took out a three-year contract with caterer Sodexho.

Head teacher Deborah Moss said she had canvassed parents' opinions after the kitchen she shares with the neighbouring infant school was threatened with closure.

"We had the most massive response to a survey possible, where they were adamant the service must be provided - and they were prepared to pay for it, if the food was of an acceptable standard."

It meant the cost rising from £1.40 - with 37p for ingredients - to the national average of £1.60, of which 48p to 55p per meal is spent on the food.

But there had been no drop-off in the numbers having cooked meals - currently 270 a day, she said.

Roast lunch

Every day there was a choice of fruit and salad and chunks of bread to supplement three main courses, one of which is vegetarian, and 62% of the meals were cooked on site.

Burgers were no longer served, and chips only twice a week.

Am I going to be allowed to use this money to balance my budget... ? Deborah Moss Kents Hill School, Essex

The most popular day was Wednesday, which was always a roast lunch.

But maintaining the kitchen and all its equipment to rigorous health and safety standards was expensive.

Miss Moss reckoned the two schools were subsidising it by about £8,000 a year above what parents paid - which could well be spent on other things.

So she will be interested to see how a school like hers might benefit from the government's announcement of extra money.

"Am I going to be allowed to use this money to balance my budget in other ways, or is it going to have to go to the catering company?" she said.

"It's interesting to see what's being said, but we are quite close to an election - the proof of the pudding is in the eating, isn't it?"

The Department for Education and Skills has stressed that its intention is to get all primary schools up to a minimum standard of spending 50p on ingredients, which should be fresh and prepared on the premises by skilled staff.

So priority will go to those with the weakest provision.

The department accepts there might be some unhappiness among schools which are already providing a good service.

Schools without kitchens are being directed to the existing, 15-year rebuilding and refurbishment programme.

"There's enough money in the system," a spokesman said.