Drop in school meal uptake is hard for city chiefs to swallow

A NEW drop in the number of pupils taking up school meals is costing the council hundreds of thousands of pounds, forcing bosses to implement "critical" action to reverse the trend.

Numbers for the first half of the current financial year are already down on the council's school meals target. They are also "considerably less" than the previous year's uptake.

Council bosses now predict that they will overspend by £358,000, largely down to the "continued downturn" in uptake.

The city council has already implemented a number of initiatives to try to make school meals more appealing.

Schools now have salad bars, panini machines and smoothie makers, as well as vegetarian options. But Jim Inch, director of corporate services, and finance director Donald McGougan have now ruled that "a further programme of action is critical".

In September, the council had targeted for 10,132 pupils taking school meals, but only 8430 actually did. This figure was down more than 1200 from the same period the previous year.

The worst month so far this year was August, where only 7069 pupils took school meals out of the same 10,132 target.

In a joint report to go before members of the finance and resources committee tomorrow, the directors said: "The average daily meal numbers for the current year is considerably less than budget and the previous year's levels. This shortfall in meal uptake numbers is reflected in the current full-year forecast."

"As the decline in school meal uptake levels continue, there remains a further risk to the school and welfare catering financial position. The need for a further programme of action is critical."

The city council came under fire earlier this year when 14 out of its 18 stand-alone nurseries started serving young children packed lunches which included processed cheese, fish paste, flavoured milk, jelly and cakes instead of a hot meal.

Deputy leader Steve Cardownie described the quality of food on offer as "scandalous" and parents were outraged.

The Evening News ran a campaign to have hot meals returned to the nurseries and, in August, the council announced a U-turn on the cutbacks.

Figures published earlier this year show just 22 per cent of city secondary school pupils and 37.8 per cent of primary pupils take school meals.

Gillian Tee, director of children and families, said: "We are making good progress to address this issue and we will report back in more detail at the policy and strategy committee in December."

But Councillor Ricky Henderson, Labour's education spokesman, said: "If other authorities are doing it right, then why can't we? It's the council that has the responsibility to make sure the service is as good as it can be and it needs to take that responsibility seriously."

"To be fair, I think the schools are doing good work with primary schools and there is optimism there that the message is getting through."