Derby City Council looks at making changes to school meals

A decision by the Cabinet will be made to provide a more financially viable system which still delivers high quality, healthy meals. The Cabinet will look at two different systems for providing the meals. The first system would mean that the meals are outsourced from a supplier and transported to a Council distribution 'hub' where Council staff would hold and transport the meals to individual school kitchens. The meals would then be heated at each school. The distribution hub would be run by the Council's school meals service. This option could lead to staff redundancies but could save up to £800,000 which is necessary to keep schools meals at a reasonable cost and healthy. The second system would again mean outsourcing the meals from a supplier; however, the meals would be transferred straight to the individual schools rather than through a Council hub. The meals would then be heated at each school. This system may prevent great numbers of staff redundancies but wouldn't reach the same levels of savings as option one. Both systems would allow school meals costs to be kept reasonable and would mean minimal future price increases. The Council Cabinet will decide whether to peruse the new school meals system at the Cabinet meeting on 27th July. Councillor Harvey Jennings, leader of Derby City Council, said: "A decision on whether to change the school meals system will be made at the next Cabinet meeting. We have decided to review the current system as we don't believe that it provides the best value for money. "We hope that if a new system is agreed that it will be of great benefit to parents, the Council and most importantly the children. The pre-prepared meals are fully compliant with nutritional standards and offer a wider choice than already available. Parents will be informed of the new meal system once a final decision has been made."