DECISION:

1.    Agree to fund the meal price at £2.90 per pupil per day rising to £3 in year 2 of the project.

2.    Agree to a 3-phase approach to launching the project to allow schools to prepare appropriately for the deliver of meals to all secondary school pupils.

3.    Agree to fund the upfront investment costs for all the schools estimated to be a total of £722,350 to ensure schools have the correct equipment and resources to increase their catering capacity.

4.    Approve the Conditions of Grant, support provision and evaluation activities for schools. These will provide a clear and consistent framework on how to derive maximum benefit from the project (encouraging uptake of good quality nutritious school meals) as well as providing data to demonstrate maximum value for money for Tower Hamlets’ investment in UFSM.

ACTION BY:

Corporate Director Children’s Services, (J. THOMAS)

Director of Commissioning and Culture (M. Eady)

Councillor Maium Talukdar (Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning) introduced the report that provided a summary of actions to implement the Mayor’s pledge to deliver free school meals to all secondary school pupils up to the age of 16. Councillor Talukdar explained that the Council would be the first in the country to introduce such a policy. He indicated the proposal represented a huge step forward and set an example to the rest of the country. He offered his thanks to the Mayor for his leadership to bring this policy to realisation.

Councillors Maium Talukdar, Suluk Ahmed and Abdul Wahid left the meeting at this point and for the remainder of this item.

James Thomas, Corporate Director, Children and Culture and Jenny Pittam, Interim Head Contract Services, provided further details and context. James  and Jenny explained how the proposal would secure health and education benefits, as well as direct financial benefits for local residents. They offered their thanks to schools for their willingness to collaborate to meet the huge challenges posed by the introduction of such a widespread policy.

The Mayor and Cabinet welcomed the policy and made the following additional points:

·         The Council should aspire to include UFSM in its base budget.

·         The Council should explore if similar support could be offered to faith and other independent schools

·         The proposals would help to increase local employment.

·         The Council should work with local schools to ensure any impact on their budgets arising from the proposals, such as calculation of the pupil premium, are mitigated.

The Mayor welcomed the report and offered his thanks to the Lead Member, officers (both current and former), schools and all involved in the delivery of USFM. He explained how the proposal linked to the Healthier Advertising Policy (agreed earlier in the meeting). He expressed hope this investment will improve health, tackle obesity and raise educational attainment. He expressed ambition to explore the inclusion of faith and independent schools under the proposals.  He asked that an appropriate communications plan be developed to accompany the launch of the policy, which should explain the phased approach.

RESOLVED that the Mayor in Cabinet:

1.    Agrees to fund the meal price at £2.90 per pupil per day rising to £3 in year 2 of the project.

2.    Agrees to a 3-phase approach to launching the project to allow schools to prepare appropriately for the delivery of meals to all secondary school pupils.

3.    Agrees to fund the upfront investment costs for all the schools estimated to be a total of £722,350 to ensure schools have the correct equipment and resources to increase their catering capacity.

4.    Approves the Conditions of Grant, support provision and evaluation activities for schools. These will provide a clear and consistent framework on how to derive maximum benefit from the project (encouraging uptake of good quality nutritious school meals) as well as providing data to demonstrate maximum value for money for Tower Hamlets’ investment in UFSM.