Portsmouth and Hampshire parents speak out over free school meals parcels

After posting pictures of their food parcels on The News Facebook page a number of parents spoke about their concerns.

Kayleigh Maree Jeffery, 33, whose children attend Trosnant Infant and Junior Schools, said: ‘Considering this parcel is supposed to last me nine days this is an absolute joke. There’s not enough variation – unless I want to make mashed potato every day.

The mother of three was also concerned about the freshness and expiry dates of the perishable goods.

She added: ‘Some of the fruit and veg already looked past its best – the lettuce was limp, warm and soggy. Some of the food also didn’t have expiry dates on it. My ex-husband also had to go to the school twice to collect the parcels as on his first visit there was only one ready.’

It’s a sentiment shared by fellow mum Kim Smith whose three children attend New Horizon Primary School in Portsmouth.

Kim, 31, said: ‘I think the quantity and quality is terrible. This is not the case for my family but for some children the meal they get at school is the one good meal they get each day. While you can make a few basic meals such as a jacket potato with tuna there’s not enough variation and some families will struggle.

‘While the freshness was okay, I know that for £15 I could go to Aldi and get a lot more food and items that I know my children like.’

Kim and Kayleigh’s views were echoed by a number of posters on our social media site.

After posting a photograph of the contents of her parcel, parent Dannie Wells said: ‘This is what's meant to feed two boys which I may add don’t eat baked beans or granary bread. It’s actually shocking to be honest. I could have gone to Aldi with the £30 voucher and filled a small trolley with lunches for the boys.’

However, after seeing some of the photographs of the parcels a number of people felt the food provided was up to standard.

Emma Macaskill posted: ‘There’s actually nothing wrong with what you’ve been given. How are the school supposed to know your kids don't eat baked beans or a certain type of bread? There’s easily 10 lunches there.’

Some families said they were pleased with the parcels they’d received with one parent praising the provider for the accompanying nutritional information she received.

Stacey Clark posted: ‘Our school sent home a bag per child entitled to a free school meal along with a food menu showing how to use the food that was in the food parcel, which included a basic sponge cake mix that you add water too, and a custard mix.

‘We were emailed out allergen information and instructions on how to make the cake and custard.’

The debate follows a social media post tweeted by ‘Roadside Mum’ showing a photograph of what appears to be a measly selection of food, some of which looked looked like it was past its best. After anticipating a two-week food parcel to the value of £30, the mother calculated she could have bought the food for between £5 and £6.

The tweet prompted England footballer and food for children campaigner Marcus Rashford to tweet: ‘This is not good enough. We must do better.’

The photograph also prompted children's minister Vicky Ford to meet representatives from Chartwells, the company that provided the parcel.

Ms Ford said: ‘Chartwells has rightly apologised and admitted the parcel in question was not good enough.’

The situation led to many parents questioning the value of food parcels provided and where the additional money provided for FSM children has gone.

Park Community School’s Public Sector Chef of the Year, Steve Cross, explained: ‘I don’t believe companies are making a profit from this. While this figure of £15 a child has been flagged up this also needs to cover the cost of packaging, delivery and paying staff in the process – I think this has been lost a little bit in all of this.

‘While there’s an argument of providing better fresh ingredients, do all parents have the skills and time – particularly if working from home – to prepare these meals.’

With 380 children entitled to FSM, Park Community School decided to use its pupil funding to provide supermarket vouchers.

Headteacher Chris Anders said: ‘It would be very labour intensive to pack up and deliver this number of boxes. There’s also then the assumption that people can turn what’s provided into a meal. At least the voucher system allows parents to choose food items they know they can use and their children will eat.’

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The disparity in quality of food parcels being experienced by the region’s FSM families appears to be due to the mixed picture of contractors providing the service.

In Portsmouth 39 schools are contracted to the council’s provider, Caterlink, but remaining schools have the flexibility to opt out of this contract and arrange their own provision with independent companies, one of which is Chartwells.

The majority of secondary schools in the city have also opted to use the supermarket voucher system. While the majority of primary schools have been using the parcel system since the start of term the council expects most to move onto vouchers.

It’s a similar situation in Hampshire where schools can opt out of the contract with the council’s caterer HC3S to establish independent providers.

Whichever system or provider schools have adopted, Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for education Cllr Suzy Horton believes it’s vital FSM children get a suitable amount and quality of food.

Cllr Horton said: ‘Everyone is working hard to adjust to the many changes that have impacted our schools at short notice already this term. Our catering supplier has reacted quickly to provide food parcels to those eligible for free school meals at the same time as managing rapidly fluctuating numbers of hot meals for those still in school.

‘Whatever method of food provision is chosen by schools it’s important to ensure it’s of good quality. It’s important to provide a standard of food that you would want yourself.’

Councillor Horton also believes more schools will begin to use their FSM funding to adopt a voucher system – something the council is looking to support.

She added: ‘We recognise that many schools and parents would like to use vouchers. The government has not announced any details about the national scheme yet, but we are setting up a local scheme for those schools that choose to use vouchers to support eligible children.’

What should a parcel include?

LACA, the independent organisation which advises the government on school catering, has produced guidelines on what a parcel should contain. Items include different types of fruit and vegetables to provide at least one portion of each every day. Protein-based foods such as beans, pulses, fish, eggs and meat should be contained to provide a portion of at least one of these food types each day. Children should also receive dairy or dairy alternatives such as milk, cheese and yoghurt with a portion for each day.

Food parcels should not contain items restricted under the School Food Standards such as sweets and crisps and should cater for children who have special dietary requirements.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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