Contact: Terry Rath, Education Officer, 01962 846153, [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report seeks approval to an increase in the cost of school meals from £1.50 per meal to £1.55 per meal from September 2005, an increase of 3.3%.

1.2 This supports aim 5 of the Corporate Strategy (Improving Services) by ensuring that the price of school meals matches closely the funding available for free school meals.

2 Heading

2.1 Since April 2002 school meals budgets have been delegated to all schools, but the decision about the price of the school meal remains as a decision of the Executive Member for Education. This reflects the continued need to ensure that the cost of providing free meals is taken into account in setting school budgets.

2.2 Last year the cost of a school meal was increased from £1.45 to £1.50, an increase of 3.4%.

2.3 A paper recommending changes to the price of school meals is usually considered by the Executive Member in May. This year the Government announced in March that additional grants would be provided to schools and local authorities to increase the food content of school meals and to increase their take up by pupils. Although the broad purposes of the additional grants were known, the level of additional funding for the County Council and schools in Hampshire remains unknown at the time this paper was prepared as does any detail about how the ring fenced grant to the County Council could be used. It had been intended to place the allocation of these grants on the agenda of the Schools Forum at a meeting planned for 5 July 2005. This meeting has now been cancelled and these grants will be considered at a meeting in September 2005. Despite this uncertainty there remains a need to set a new price for school meals from September 2005.

3 Catering Cost Inflation

3.1 One of the factors to be taken into account in determining school meal price increases is the level of cost inflation being experienced in the catering industry. This has usually been calculated by giving equal weighting to the increases in a catering staff cost index and provisions cost index. This gives an average of 4.8% to December 2004 compared to an increase in the Retail Price Index of 3.5% over the same period. This is one factor that has caused HC3S to propose an increase from £1.30 to £1.60 from September 2005 or 6.7%.

3.2 From an analyses of likely school meal prices in neighbouring authorities it is likely that a charge of £1.55 per meal will be common from September 2004.

4 Impact on Schools Delegated Budgets

4.1 Allocations to schools for 2004/5 have been based on 195 "feeding days". Inflation of 3.9% has been added to this figure for the whole of the financial year. The comparison between average feeding costs and average budget costs are set out below:

4.2 The school budget allocation is marginally above the average costs to schools of free school meals charge at £1.55 from September 2005. In 2004/5 the budget allocation to schools was marginally below the cost of providing free school meals. If the meal price was increased to £1.56 the budget allocation and the cost to schools of free school meals would be in balance. However, in view of the marginal difference and the advantages for cash handling an increase to £1.55 per meal is recommended.

5 Legal implications

5.1 None.

6 Financial implications

6.1 These are set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the body of the report.

7 Personnel implications

7.1 None.

8 Impact assessment

8.1 Price and equality impact assessment have been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

9 Crime prevention issues

9.1 No crime prevention issues have been identified..

10 Views of the Local County Councillor

10.1 If agreed, the proposals in this paper will be implemented across the County.

Recommendations

1 That the school meal price should be £1.55 from September 2005

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

1. Report on catering industry inflation and other factors that could have influence school meal prices.

2. A document containing school meal prices in other local authorities.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.