Free schools meals voucher scheme will return next week, Education Secretary confirms, condemning ‘disgusting’ food parcel pictures
Isabella McRae
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Education secretary Gavin Williamson said he was “absolutely disgusted” by images of “meagre” free school meals parcels shared online as he confirmed the return of the government’s supermarket voucher scheme from next week.
Pictures of food packages, shared on social media sites by parents who claimed they had been provided by catering company Chartwells, were widely criticised over “mean portions” .
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Children eligible for free school meals scheme are entitled to food worth £30 per week or the equivalent in supermarket vouchers while schools are closed, however, parcels appeared to include as little as a loaf of bread, some cheese, a tin of beans, two carrots, two bananas, three apples, two potatoes, a bag of pasta, three Frubes, two Soreen bars and a tomato.
Speaking to the Education Select Committee today (13 January), Williamson said: “When I saw that picture, I was absolutely disgusted. As a dad myself I just thought, how could a family in receipt of that really be expected to deliver five nutritious meals as is required? It’s just not acceptable.”
And another one...😔 pic.twitter.com/hCCFCxC5HL
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 11, 2021
He said the Department for Education will support schools who wish to take action against companies who do not deliver adequate standards of food packages.
“It’s been made absolutely clear to Chartwells that that sort of behaviour is just not right. It will not be tolerated,” he said. “We will not live with that. There are clear standards as a sector that they need to deliver against. If they do not deliver against standards, action will have to be taken.”
And another one...😔 pic.twitter.com/hCCFCxC5HL
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 11, 2021
The Education Secretary also confirmed that, from next week, the national food voucher scheme, in partnership with catering provider Edenred, will be available to all schools.
Williamson said that over the course of the pandemic, hundreds of millions of pounds worth of free school meals has been provided to families through the programme.
“All schools also have the option for local schemes,” he added. “Schools do have existing food contracts in place, so they can provide food boxes through those contracts. They can also take on local voucher schemes that they may want to and the department will reimburse them on that.”
The problem is that they show striking similarities with your Government’s guidelines. This is on you.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 13, 2021
Change the guidelines and stop putting families last. https://t.co/vuMlrnn4vI pic.twitter.com/LBw6lxU2jx
Further questioned on the issue of the voucher scheme by Apsana Begum, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Williamson said: “We believe that the national voucher scheme is really important and is ready to roll. Schools will be able to order it.
“Any costs that schools concur from procuring vouchers to schools themselves are going to be covered by the department for education. We want to give schools the maximum amount of choice.”
He said that one school, Reach Academy in London, have done an “amazing job” of providing highly nutritious meals to their pupils.
“We wanted to be able to expand the amount of money that they would have to do that,” Williamson said, “but equally if the route that schools wanted to take was to do the locally procured vouchers, we wanted to give them clear guidance.”
I totally agree with you @MarcusRashford, these food parcels do not meet the standards we set out and we have made it clear to the company involved that this is disgraceful. The company concerned has rightly apologised and agreed to reimburse those affected. https://t.co/tVCVhUouRa
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 13, 2021
The Education Secretary said that clear standards have been set regarding food parcels which should contain nutritious foods including a variety of fruit and vegetables, protein foods, dairy and dairy alternatives.
“We should not tolerate, and we will stand square behind schools, when providers are not delivering what is required. It is just not acceptable,” he added.
Meanwhile, Children’s minister, Vicky Ford, met with the chief executive of Chartwells and said on Twitter: “The photos being shared on social media last night and today are completely unacceptable and do not reflect the high standard of free school meals we expect to be sent to children.”
She added that Chartwells has taken “immediate action” and called on anyone with evidence of problems to come forward to the department of education so that they can investigate.
Chartwells said in a statement: “In our efforts to provide thousands of food parcels a week at extremely short notice, we are very sorry that the quantity has fallen short in this instance.
“We are further enhancing our food parcels following the Department for Education’s additional allowance of £3.50 per week per child in line with nutritional guidelines, in addition we welcome the DofE procurement notice for schools issued today.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer criticised the government for “striking similarities between the shameful meal parcels” and the government’s guidance.
Footballer Marcus Rashford, who led the campaign for free school meals during the pandemic, tweeted this morning: “Just had a good conversation with the Prime Minister. He has assured me that he is committed to correcting the issue with the food hampers and that a full review of the supply chain is taking place. He agrees that images of hampers being shared on Twitter are unacceptable.”