Frozen school meals now on menu for pupils
Opposition to plan for a centralised service
Perth and Kinross primary school meals will now be produced at a central production unit in Dundee.
The proposal for meals to be freshly prepared in Dundee, frozen and then shipped out to Perth and Kinross was previously rejected in 2019.
But Perth and Kinross Council’s elected members voted in favour of the move as the best way to ensure delivery of universal free school meals to all its primary pupils by August 2022.
There was strong opposition during the debate on Wednesday last week, with SNP councillor Grant Laing asking why the proposal was sprung upon councillors without prior consultation.
PKC’s head of legal and governance services Lisa Simpson said circumstances had changed following a “very laudable and wellintentioned policy” brought in by the Scottish Government in May.
She said the policy presented a challenge around the timescale.
Primary four pupils will be entitled to free school meals from August 2021, primary five from January 2022 and all remaining primary pupils by August 2022.
Officers said PKC currently does not have the capacity to produce
500,000 additional school meals a year - an expected 45 per cent increase in uptake.
The move could result in up to 38 redundancies as 38 ‘grade five’ cook posts would be replaced with 17 lower ‘grade three’ hub supervisor posts.
However, up to 60 ‘grade one’ jobs would be created.
While meals will be produced in bulk in Dundee, Tayside Contracts confirmed food such as bread, fresh vegetables and fish fingers will be prepared in Perth and Kinross
kitchens.
Angus Council and Dundee City Council already have their meals produced at Tayside Contracts’ central Tay Cusine unit.
Cllr Laing, his party’s group leader locally and a representative for the Strathtay ward, expressed surprise at the proposal being back on the menu after Conservative council leader Murray Lyle previously said it was “dead in the water”.
Cllr Lyle said: “I was informed of the policy in May and I asked for a paper to come forward that would allow us a strategic direction to allow us to comply with Scottish Government policy.”
PKC’s head of education, Sheena Devlin, told councillors choosing any other option would risk Perth and Kinross primary pupils not getting free school meals within the Scottish Government’s required timescale.
Cllr Lyle motioned for the central production unit option.
It was seconded by fellow Conservative councillor Caroline Shiers, a representative for the Blairgowrie and Glens ward and convener of the lifelong learning committee.
Cllr Shiers said Angus families had indicated they were happy with the roll-out of the centralised system there.
Labour Carse of Gowrie councillor Alasdair Bailey put forward an amendment to upgrade Perth and Kinross kitchens to produce meals on site.
He said: “We’re ideally placed for food production with fantastic agricultural lands and great farmers, skilled people and easy access to other big centres of population.”
SNP Perth City North councillor John Rebbeck seconded.
The motion was carried by 21 votes to 16 and supported by the Liberal Democrats.
Lib Dem Perth City South councillor Willie Wilson said: “We’ve had the time to cook about half a million dinners in the time we have been debating it.”
After the meeting, Cllr Rebbeck said he was “deeply disturbed by the decision.”
He added: “I believe the citizens of Perth and Kinross want local cooks producing nutritional, tasty meals for their kids using fresh and locally sourced ingredients. Our catering staff know their kids and need flexibility in the way they deliver these meals to best suit the individual needs of pupils.”
We’ve had the time to cook about half a million dinners in the time we have been debating it
Cllr Willie Wilson