Vol. 558 No. 5
67 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when the new targeted scheme for school meals for disadvantaged pupils will be established in regard to the commitment given in An Agreed Programme for Government; the way in which the areas for inclusion will be selected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21753/02]
An interdepartmental working group has recently completed a comprehensive review of the existing school meals schemes. The review was carried out as part of my Department's programme of school expenditure reviews and involved extensive consultation with relevant organisations, including local authorities involved in the administration of the schemes. The working group have concluded that school meals arrangements have continued relevance and have made proposals for a programme of food provision in the school setting.
Establishing a new targeted scheme of school meals for disadvantaged pupils is a very significant task that requires consultation between the relevant Departments, schools and other interested bodies. These consultations are ongoing and include consideration of the appropriate criteria for selecting areas or schools for inclusion in the new scheme. These criteria have not been decided as yet, but the focus will be on tackling poverty and promoting social inclusion. In that regard, the commitment in the review of the national anti-poverty strategy, Building an Inclusive Society, to reduce the number of young people who leave the school system early is particularly relevant. By targeting those schools with the highest levels of early school leaving, the new school meals system will help achieve education objectives, as well as health, nutrition and social inclusion objectives.
Pending finalisation of the review, funds amounting to €700,000 were made available in 2002 towards the food costs of voluntary and community groups and schools currently providing meals outside the existing scheme. The conclusions of the working group will be submitted to the Government in the near future at which stage the details of any new arrangements will be finalised.
I thank the Minister for her reply. I hope the criteria will not be fobbed off because of budgetary constraints or anything else. Does the Minister agree that this is one of the most cost effective ways of tackling poverty and promoting social inclusion? Does she also agree it is a very cost effective way of helping to tackle educational disadvantage by keeping young people at school? Has she or her officials evaluated the Combat Poverty Agency recommendation, which called for the enhancement of the school meals scheme over three years? What has come out of the review group? Was it in agreement with the Combat Poverty Agency submission, which recommended that the meals should include breakfast and hot lunch as part of a targeted initiative to tackle dropping out from school? It also recommended standardising eligibility criteria to increase the take up of the scheme to about 100,000 children. Does the Minister agree the criteria are somewhat ad hoc as matters now stand? Does she also agree there would only be a minimal cost of €15 million to extend it to 100,000 children?
I agree with the Deputy in saying it is one of the best schemes for dealing with poverty and nutrition and in support of those who are less well off. A tremendous pilot scheme was carried out involving breakfast clubs, lunch clubs and homework clubs, which reflect the proposals of the Combat Poverty Agency as well as those of the expenditure review group. In the very near future I hope to consider advancing the pilot scheme which has shown more than value for money and is a good investment in young people. In particular, we will target those who leave secondary school early, which was not previously a focus of the scheme.
