LACA Chair responds to Suffolk County Council “enabling authority” plans

In it Russell said: "LACA appreciates that Suffolk County Council will not have come to a decision on taking a new strategic direction without considerable deliberation and the requirement to meet the Government directive to all Local Authorities to reduce expenditure. One of Suffolk's key decisions in this process is to make the County Council an 'enabling' authority which would mean it would no longer provide certain services but instead source them from alternative organisations such as private contractors. In the current economic climate and with public spending cuts affecting all areas of society, we have to recognise that savings are having to be made across the board and that there will be changes and difficult times ahead for all of us. We are sure that a number of other Local Authorities across the country will also be looking at their range of services and considering how to make tough budgetary driven decisions across the breadth of their responsibilities. However, LACA is concerned that, in the wake of widespread belt tightening, school meal services are protected as much as possible. Given the contribution school meals can make to children's health and the hard work of the past five years in transforming the school meals service, LACA would like to see the Government continue to support the funding for the school meals service beyond March 2011, when the School Lunch Grant is currently scheduled to end. This support would help to sustain the quality school meals service that has been established at a time when schools (or Local Authorities) may be re-considering the level of service that can continue to be provided. LACA would like to see the Government emphasise to schools and Local Authorities the importance of school meals to the development of young people and how it should form a key element of the whole school approach to their education, if we are to tackle the obesity crisis and decrease NHS costs in the longer term. It is essential, therefore, that the health of children and young people is not the target for cuts but remains a top priority budgetary item".