Bridgend Council’s progress in rolling out free school meals for every primary school pupil was discussed by a BCBC scrutiny committee earlier this week (pdf).
The policy was introduced as part of a Senedd agreement between Plaid Cymru and Labour. The Welsh Government expects the roll-out to be completed by September 2024, though councils don’t have a strict deadline.
Modular kitchens needed at four schools
The Welsh Government has provided the council with just over £3.8million in capital grants relating to the scheme, with 51 of the 60 primary schools in the county seeing investment of some kind.
Four primary schools – Cwmfelin, Newton, Bryntirion Infants and Trelales – will have modular kitchens installed, though there’s a delay at Trelales due to bats being found at the school.
The report also highlights staffing issues within the council’s Catering Service, with more than 170 vacancies yet to be filled.
Welsh Government “not covering the full cost” of providing meals
As of November 2023, universal free school meals have been rolled out for Reception-Year 3 in Bridgend. Nursery pupils and pupils in Years 4-6 who pay for school meals are still charged £2.20 per day.
Nursery pupils are set to join the universal free school meal programme in January 2024, with Year 4 joining in April 2024. Years 5-6 are set to join at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
The cost of providing a primary school meal as of 2022-23 is £3.69, though the Welsh Government only provides £2.90 towards the universal scheme; this is currently under review.
During the meeting, Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr. Jon-Paul Bundell (Lab, Cefn Glas), told councillors that BCBC continues to press for the Welsh Government to fully cover revenue and capital costs of the programme.
The report also says that food prices have increased by up to 20% as a result of the pandemic and the Ukraine War.
Menu “needs tweaking” to cut marked increase in food waste
Additional costs are expected due to new regulations in Wales about separating waste at workplaces – set to come into force from April 2024. There’ll be a ban on dumping food waste into sewers and sending food waste to landfills or incinerators.
Cllr. Amanda Williams (Ind, Coity Higher) saw first-hand “bin bags full of food”, while some children continued to go hungry due to not liking what was on offer. Another example was given where a vegan curry was eaten by only one child with the rest of the batch thrown away.
Councillors were told by local primary school headteachers that food waste had increased since universal free school meals were introduced.
This was said to be mainly down to the menu choice (i.e. having solely “spicy” options on the same day) – though there were no concerns about the quality of the food itself.
This is particularly the case amongst children who previously brought a packed lunch but whose parents/guardians have moved onto the universal free meal scheme.
