Central meal plan back on the table
Perth and Kinross Council could be set to centralise the production of its school meals to Dundee.
The controversial plans were previously rejected by councillors as unpalatable.
But elected members will this week be asked to approve plans as the “most efficient” and “best value” way for PKC to roll out free school meals to all primary pupils.
A full meeting of Perth and Kinross Council on Wednesday will discuss and vote on the most favoured proposal.
The council report published in advance of the meeting describes the Scottish Government’s introduction of universal free school meals for all primary pupils as “challenging”.
Primary four pupils will be entitled to the meals from August 2021, primary five from January 2022 and all remaining primary pupils by August 2022.
The challenges outlined by the council in delivering this largely relate to capacity.
The report says Perth and Kinross Council will need to supply an additional 500,000 school meals each year when the scheme is fully rolled out from August 2022.
A number of proposals have been put forward, but the favoured option recommended by officers is to have the meals produced at Tay Cuisine’s central kitchen depot in Dundee.
Both Angus Council and Dundee City Council voted to have their school meals produced at this central depot.
The proposal is now back on the table in Perth and Kinross after previously causing a stir and not currying favour with the majority of elected members.
The meals would be produced at Tay Cuisine’s central kitchen and finished off in schools by staff members.
While this proposal would create up to 60 new ‘grade one’ jobs, the current ‘grade five’ cook posts in primary production kitchens would be replaced with a lower ‘grade three’ hub supervisor post.
Lifelong learning committee convener, Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Caroline Shiers, said: “Over the past two years, there have been extensive discussions at Perth and Kinross Council about how we can improve the quality of meals on offer, how to improve the amount of local produce we use, and how to ensure more children take up the free meals they are eligible to receive.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but quality of the meal on the plate, continuity of local staff serving the meals, and increasing the amount of local produce used in meal production are the key commitments we are making.
“I also very much welcome the increased job opportunities that would be created across Perth and Kinross through the way that we are redesigning the delivery of school meals.”
Labour Carse of Gowrie councillor Alasdair Bailey said: “This proposal to bring frozen meals across from a factory in Dundee was roundly rejected by the people and by councillors in 2019.
“It beggars belief that this proposal has itself been reheated and is now back on the table on Wednesday.”
He continued: “If people want to stop this getting passed, they should contact their local councillors before Wednesday’s meeting.”