Calls for lessons to be learned after 'no tangible progress' on introduction of free school meals across Warwickshire

A councillor has called for lessons to be learned after a year of no tangible progress on a push to introduce free school meals for all primary-age children.

Cllr John Holland, leader of the Labour group on Warwickshire County Council, raised the matter again after the authority’s health and wellbeing board was presented with director of public health Dr Shade Agboola’s annual report.

In the 2022 report, presented to the board in January 2023, Dr Agboola recommended that the board “explores the feasibility of free school meals for all primary school children in Warwickshire, as research shows that children are able to learn better in school if they have a full stomach”.

Updates featured this time said work, including “a full literature review, evaluating the current provision, benefits, challenges, learning from others and key considerations”, had been run through as well as “available” data on current uptake and eligibility of free school meals and cost estimates.

“Options are currently being reviewed based on the findings of the feasibility study to inform the next steps,” read the report.

“This includes working in partnership with the Warwickshire free school meals working group and improving uptake for eligible families, and scoping the possibility of a pilot scheme in a North Warwickshire school.”

Cllr Holland, who was told by Dr Agboola in September 2023 that kitchen capacity and cost issues may limit the scope to breakfast clubs, remained unconvinced.

“There is in the recommendations (for the current year) a mention of resources needed, and quite rightly,” he said.

“If we learn from last year, the report was presented to the first possible meeting of the county council in March only to find that the budget had been fixed the month before.

“I thought one of the four recommendations last year was very important, a recommendation of free school meals for all primary school children.

“It ended up with a motion that the Health & Wellbeing Board would investigate feasibility, a load of words but the result is that it didn’t happen.

“In London, Sadiq Khan (the elected mayor) has introduced free school meals for all primary school children, so it can be done.

“I would not like us to get into the same problem this year where you are arguing, quite reasonably, that resources be allocated to achieve the recommendations only to find it goes to county council in March when we have fixed the budget the previous month.”

He asked for the board’s chair, Cllr Margaret Bell, to write to all political groups to draw attention to the report and its recommendations ahead of budget setting.

Cllr Bell and Dr Agboola referred to the updates in the report with Dr Agboola arguing that “a lot of progress has been made”, but she did say: “I take the point about the lack of synergy between budget setting and recommendations and I support your suggestion that the chair potentially writes to the leaders of different groups.”

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse commented that “money will always come into it” but added: “My understanding is that public health has done quite well out of the local government (financial) settlement, it has done better than the actual council itself which has done really, really badly."