CLLR CAROL RUNCIMAN SPEECH TO BUDGET COUNCIL 26TH FEB 2009 (York Liberal Democrats)

CLLR CAROL RUNCIMAN SPEECH TO BUDGET COUNCIL 26TH FEB 2009

February 26, 2009 1:01 AM
By Cllr Carol Runciman

Labour's amendment seeks to find funding to decrease the price of school meals for primary pupils across the board. They cost it at £804k.

But funding for school meals is clearly expenditure in schools so the money needed for Labour's amendment would have to come out of the Direct Schools Grant - the DSG. However, there is not £804k available to do this in the DSG, so where will the money come from?

It is important to note that the Labour amendment assumes a September 2009 start date. If there were a full year of such a reduction, a further £390k would be needed. This means that in 2010/11, the full annual cost would be the astronomical figure of £1,194,000. These costings assume we will continue to use the School Lunch Grant, which is only guaranteed until the end of 2010/11- if it ceases this would add another £159,000 per year to the cost - which would now reach a grand total of £1,353,000.

In 2010/11, the total increase in DSG is estimated at £1,533k, but this is more than swallowed up in meeting minimum funding increases for schools and covering pay and price inflation. The Schools Budget has been balanced this year by making £451k of savings on central services budgets. This means extra resources of £210k can be invested in behaviour support and the traveller and ethnic minority service. Under Labour's amendment, all this investment would be in jeopardy.

This city needs to make sure that money is not taken out of the DSG or anywhere else and thus put at risk our high standards and our capacity for early intervention. Putting early help in where it is needed has always been a priority for me and saves both money and heartache later. We must give support to children and families who need it most - and giving all those in primary schools reduced rate school meals is not the way to do that.

I am - of course - a firm supporter of the value of good food to children. In fact, only recently I talked with members of the Schools Food Trust when we all ate a school meal together here in York. It was at the start of the first of their school meal promotion weeks that are taking place this term. We are continuing our work with the School Food Trust to boost take up of school meals

I am also well aware of its impact on learning. Research has long indicated that a well-fed child learns better than a hungry one - as Margaret Macmillan knew in Bradford in the early 1900. Research also shows us that the quality of the food matters - as many parents know when they try to avoid the notorious e numbers that change their children's behaviour.

However, offering free or reduced rate meals does not always have lasting effects. In Hull, a city that has high levels of social deprivation and underachievement, in a recent experiment which made all school meals free, found take up only increased to 64% although the cost to the city over three years was £12.5 million. This take up dropped to 40% afterwards. It was certainly no magic bullet for increasing take up or improving children's achievement.

Here in York we have an excellent educational record. Indeed we have thirteen schools that have an Outstanding Ofsted report. We have more fortunate areas and less prosperous ones. For me, it is very important to make sure money is targeted at those who will most benefit from it - not across the board. We just don't get enough funding to do that even if we wanted to.

Finally, it would seem that the energy efficiencies suggested by the opposition include those from schools. But they come from the DSG too and are therefore not part of the council's budget. We can and do encourage schools to be more energy efficient but the savings go back into the education of the children, as they should, and not into the council's budget.

Cllr Carol Runciman - Liberal Democrat Member for Children and Young People's Services

York Liberal Democrats

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