Ministry axe could fall on school lunches

WELLINGTON: Job cut proposals at the Ministry of Education are affecting those who work in the school lunch programme, RNZ understands.

It is not yet clear how many roles in the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme this could include, but it could involve close to half of the positions in a team that works on the lunch programme and also in the period products programme in schools.

It is understood this team is made up of contractors and some staff roles.

The free school lunch programme was introduced in 2019 by the previous Labour government and currently offers meals to 230,000 pupils in about 1000 disadvantaged schools — or about 25% of the 830,000 primary and secondary pupils in New Zealand.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour has previously confirmed the programme is under review and is likely to be cut in the Budget.

Jobs being disestablished are understood to include nutritionists, those who monitor and evaluate the programme, sustainability and waste, and people who work in regional branches.

One person, who RNZ has agreed not to name, works on the school lunch programme at the ministry and was told their role was being considered for redundancy.

They said they had concerns about whether the programme could continue to be effective with the number of cuts.

Another person close to the matter said the team was set to be ‘‘decimated’’.

Mr Seymour said he was not involved in the detail of the ministry’s restructuring process, but was confident the programme could deliver the same quality with fewer people.

When pressed how the cuts would affect the programme, Mr Seymour said: ‘‘It is possible to get more for the people who are paying the bill, the taxpayers of New Zealand — the people receiving the services — with fewer people in the Ministry of Education.’’

The Ministry of Education has declined to provide details of the proposed cuts and said there would be a staffwide meeting on job cut proposals today. — RNZ