Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2024
390. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection what action has been taken to monitor and reduce food waste and packaging waste in the school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18277/24]
View answerThe 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 Hot 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 8th April 2024. The remaining Primary Schools who have not yet joined the scheme will be able to express an interest to receive Hot School Meals from September 2024. My Department will contact them by email shortly to notify them of the Expression of Interest process.
My Department provides the funding for the Hot School Meals Programme directly to the school and it is the responsibility of each individual school to administer the Programme in their school. All schools who wish to avail of hot meals for their pupils 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.
Under tender documentation as stipulated by the Schools Procurement’s Unit, the school meal supplier is responsible for operating policies which progressively addresses environmental considerations such as waste and packaging and is committed to the principles of environmental management in its activities and it encourages the implementation of sustainability principles in its procurement practices, and that the supplier should make all reasonable efforts to minimise adverse environmental impact in the methods of services delivery and in materials used.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
