Local authority education catering service: More than just a service

To enable more urgent action at the local level for this critical yet neglected service, a new report by APSE titled ‘Local authority education catering service: More than just a service’ makes five recommendations for national governments.

Informed by a series of online surveys and a roundtable discussion, the report found that over half of those surveyed believed Free School Meal (FSM) funding was inadequate. The vast majority (83.16%) of respondents stated that the funding for FSMs should be ringfenced and the survey also confirmed that less than half of councils surveyed are providing a subsidy for their catering service (41.30%).

As well as survey analysis, the report documents the fragmentation of the English school meals sector, scrutinises the current landscape of local authority service delivery models, and affirms the local authority catering service as the most effective model for delivering nutritious school meals.

APSE’s call for action takes the form of five recommendations for national governments: ‘Your 5-a-ways to fix school meal provision’:

1. The wide-reaching socio-economic value of school catering needs to be recognised.
2. Funding should reflect the broader value of school catering rather than simply the cost of the school meal.
3. Funding for school meals needs to be ringfenced.
4. Market-based models do not serve the sector well and ought to be re-evaluated.
5. Subsidy is not a dirty word.

For the press release click here. 

Download the report