The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding.
I am committed to continuing to expand the School Meals Programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme that has taken place in recent years. As part of this significant expansion plan, all remaining primary schools were contacted last year and requested to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals.
Expressions of interests were received from over 900 primary schools in respect of 150,000 children and late last year these schools were invited to participate in the Hot School Meals Programme from April 2024. There will be an opportunity for the other primary schools who had subsequently expressed an interest, to do so formally during this year.
Funding under this Programme is for food only. All schools who wish to avail of the School Meals Programme are responsible for choosing their own School Meals supplier on the open market in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with Public Procurement rules and the primary relationship is between school and supplier. It is the responsibility of the supplier to prepare the school meals and to ensure that meals are served hot. The supplier is also responsible for the installation of any necessary equipment. Staffing resources for schools is a matter for the Department of Education.
In circumstances where a school is unable to secure a hot meals supplier due its location or facilities and space, I would suggest they reach out to local caterers or supermarkets within its area. If a school is still unsuccessful in securing a supplier, they should then try to source a local supplier that could instead provide a lunch with drink as an alternative to a hot meal.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
