Agenda item

Free School Meals for Infant Pupils

It was moved by Councillor Andrew Sangar, seconded by Councillor Rob Frost, that this Council:-

(a)       recognises that the provision of a nutritious meal at midday is an important step in increasing the educational attainment of pupils;

(b)       therefore warmly welcomes the provision of Free School Meals for all infant pupils, introduced by the Government on the initiative of the Deputy Prime Minister and Sheffield MP Nick Clegg;

(c)        is delighted that the provision of Free School Meals has successfully rolled out in Sheffield, with all Sheffield schools offering a meal and 92.5% of schools being able to prepare a meal on site thanks to the £1.5m investment spent on upgraded facilities;

(d)       places on record its thanks to all the staff involved whose hard work made the successful roll out of Free School Meals possible;

(e)       is delighted that this initiative has led to the creation of 130 new jobs and saves local families, on average, £400 a year per child; and

(f)        supports the Liberal Democrat policy of extending free school meals to all primary school pupils.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Jackie Drayton, seconded by Councillor Denise Fox, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by:-

1.         the deletion in paragraph (b) of all the words after the word “pupils” and their substitution by the words “however regrets that this was another unfunded promise by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Council have had to pick up the bill yet again for what this Council believes to be the Deputy Prime Minister’s incompetence and notes the following comments from the LGA “research makes it clear central government has not provided schools with enough money to do the essential work necessary to give 1.5 million children a free meal at lunchtime. It is councils and schools who are picking up the bill for this work, at a time when budgets are already squeezed and tough decisions are being taken.”

2.         the insertion of a new paragraph (c) as follows  and the relettering of original paragraphs (c) to (f) as new paragraphs (d) to (g):-

(c)        further notes the following comments from Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers “It is wrong that local councillors find themselves in the invidious position of having to cut other essential services like school maintenance to meet the cost of the introduction of free school meals. It should have been clear that free school meals would need to be properly funded, particularly in the context of the swingeing cuts to essential services that local councils have had to implement for the last four years due to government austerity measures.”

3.         the deletion in the new paragraph (d) of all the words after the words “rolled out in Sheffield” and their substitution by the words “thanks to the actions of the present Administration plugging the £400,000 shortfall in funding to upgrade kitchens in addition to substantial revenue shortfalls”

4.         the deletion of new paragraph (g) and the addition of new paragraphs (g) to (i) as follows:-

(g)       welcomes the actions of the present Administration to freeze the price of Sheffield school meals in recent years;

(h)       further welcomes that the Council’s main school meals contractor has now agreed to pay the living wage to staff on the City Council catering contract and welcomes that the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families has written to schools and other contractors not part of the Council scheme asking them to also pay the Living Wage; and

(i)         despite welcoming these positive developments around free school meals, is shocked that the main opposition group boast about the Government’s free school meals at the same time as they have overseen a national avalanche of food banks, including in Sheffield and recalls reports earlier this year that Handsworth Grange School had to install food banks in the School because local families could not afford to feed their children and believes this is a damming indictment of Conservative/ Liberal Democrat Government in 2014.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED:  That this Council:-

(a)       recognises that the provision of a nutritious meal at midday is an important step in increasing the educational attainment of pupils;

(b)       therefore warmly welcomes the provision of Free School Meals for all infant pupils however regrets that this was another unfunded promise by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Council have had to pick up the bill yet again for what this Council believes to be the Deputy Prime Minister’s incompetence and notes the following comments from the LGA “research makes it clear central government has not provided schools with enough money to do the essential work necessary to give 1.5 million children a free meal at lunchtime. It is councils and schools who are picking up the bill for this work, at a time when budgets are already squeezed and tough decisions are being taken.”

(c)        further notes the following comments from Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers “It is wrong that local councillors find themselves in the invidious position of having to cut other essential services like school maintenance to meet the cost of the introduction of free school meals. It should have been clear that free school meals would need to be properly funded, particularly in the context of the swingeing cuts to essential services that local councils have had to implement for the last four years due to government austerity measures.”

(d)       is delighted that the provision of Free School Meals has successfully rolled out in Sheffield thanks to the actions of the present Administration plugging the £400,000 shortfall in funding to upgrade kitchens in addition to substantial revenue shortfalls.

(e)       places on record its thanks to all the staff involved whose hard work made the successful roll out of Free School Meals possible;

(g)       welcomes the actions of the present Administration to freeze the price of Sheffield school meals in recent years;

(h)       further welcomes that the Council’s main school meals contractor has now agreed to pay the living wage to staff on the City Council catering contract and welcomes that the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families has written to schools and other contractors not part of the Council scheme asking them to also pay the Living Wage; and

(i)        despite welcoming these positive developments around free school meals, is shocked that the main opposition group boast about the Government’s free school meals at the same time as they have overseen a national avalanche of food banks, including in Sheffield and recalls reports earlier this year that Handsworth Grange School had to install food banks in the School because local families could not afford to feed their children and believes this is a damming indictment of Conservative/ Liberal Democrat Government in 2014.

(Note: 1. Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Richard Shaw, Rob Frost, Joe Otten, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Penny Baker, Roger Davison, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Cliff Woodcraft, Ian Auckland, Steve Ayris, Denise Reaney, David Baker, Katie Condliffe and Vickie Priestley voted for paragraphs (a) and (e) and against all of the remaining paragraphs of the Substantive Motion and asked for this to be recorded.

2. Councillors Jillian Creasy, Robert Murphy, Sarah Jane Smalley and Brian Webster voted for paragraphs (a) and (c) to (h) and abstained on paragraphs (b) and (i) of the Substantive Motion and asked for this to be recorded.)