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Jamie Oliver |
TV’S JAMIE: MY FEARS OVER FREE DINNERS
School meals campaigner warns of ‘compromises’ danger
JAMIE Oliver has sounded an alarm over Islington’s move to make school dinners free for all primary pupils.
The celebrity chef and school meals campaigner warned that the initiative could lead to “compromises”.
He said he would rather councils such as Islington continued to take money from those who could afford to pay – and use the cash to improve kitchens and bring in more cooks.
The free meals plan was pushed through last Thursday at a dramatic Town Hall budget meeting in which Labour overcame the wafer-thin majority held by the Lib Dems.
But Mr Oliver – speaking exclusively to the Tribune on Monday night – said: “British law at the moment is: if you are so poor you can’t afford it, the government will pay for your free school meal. That’s more than adequate. Increase the threshold but don’t make it free for everyone. If you make it free for everyone it’s expensive. It’s a lot of money.
“I’d rather they increase the threshold and put an extra million quid into kitchens, and hours and hours of labour – that’s my personal opinion.”
Mr Oliver’s celebrated work on school dinners led to petitions to government and improved awareness about what children eat at lunchtime. He famously exposed how unhealthy some of the meals supplied in schools were, criticising dishes such as turkey twizzlers.
He told the Tribune: “The school meals service is not a charity, it’s a business. Ultimately, free school meals is great. It puts business through the kitchens and that’s brilliant because you want the kids to be working and they will after great, simple, tasty, healthy food.
“The problem is it’s a fine line between a system that’s broken and a system that’s a charity. Unfortunately, sometimes when councils pay for it to be free the internal structure compromises in certain areas.”
Labour councillors spent this week celebrating their surprise budget triumph last week, having benefited on the night from the support of an “independent Lib Dem” who voted with them.
But the knives are already out. Lib Dem education chief Councillor Paula Belford said: “Labour’s plans were so sketchy and ill-thought-out that officers are now having to do the work Labour didn’t bother to do. We don’t yet know how much this will cost, or the full implications it will have on government funding. I do know that Labour’s plans are not right for Islington and do nothing for secondary school children.”
Her Lib Dem colleague, Councillor Terry Stacy, said: “Eighty-nine per cent of kids at Newington Green Primary School come from Hackney. I’ve a good mind to go down there and give them a bill.” Hackney’s Labour Party has refused to implement a similar policy in its schools.
But Islington Labour shadow education spokesman Councillor Richard Watts said: “I’m delighted this has been passed. The details of this were well thought through. Officers knew about our plans all the way along and don’t anticipate any significant problems implementing this.
“I take Jamie Oliver’s comments much more seriously because I respect the work he has done but councillors know much more about conditions in Islington than he does. If we had any suspicions that there would be a cut in standards we wouldn’t have pushed the policy. Parents are still the customers, because they still have a choice. Their kids can still have packed lunches.”
He said that raising the threshold of who qualified for free meals was “almost impossible for us to do”, adding: “We’d have to do a whole new means test.”
Tony McKenna, managing director of Cater Link, the company responsible for providing most of Islington’s school meals, said: “Most kitchens can cope with the extra volume but some need extra resources and equipment.”
He added that quality would not drop. |
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