LACA head reacts to Ofsted report

"For a start, the survey only covered 27 schools (there are about 19,600 primary schools and over 3,600 secondary schools in England and Wales) and this is a very small sample from which to draw the conclusion the Government's objectives are failing," she said. "So I don't necessarily agree with the conclusions, though I think their results tend to chime with our own findings that suggest there are hard challenges ahead." The Ofsted report, published on October 3rd, reported that the school meals service was in crisis after it found that meal uptake had dropped in three quarters of the schools it had inspected. The report laid the blame for the situation on a lack of consultation over the introduction of meals conforming to new standards, poor marketing and a lack of choice. As national chairman of the Local Authority Caterers' Association (LACA), Russell was invited to GMTV's London studio to discuss her reaction to the report on the morning news and current affairs programme. She said she attempted to steer a line between denying the school meal system was in crisis yet acknowledging that Government neglect and underspending over 20 years could not be undone in just one or two. She said she told her TV audience that the focus in dealing with the problem had to be in steady progression towards the nutritional and uptake goals and on making the changes within schools that were needed to make the new school menus more acceptable. "I also made the point that we have a committed and passionate workforce of 80,000 school meals staff across the country and often the media coverage of their efforts is very negative. "We have also come through many years of change in which the service has been turned into a business operation. However, the public perception is still that we are a welfare service even though we're not funded by Government like one." She said she was also asked about the cost of purchasing a school meal. "And I had to go back to the fact we're now run as a business and have to cover our costs, whereas if we were a welfare service we could provide a good meal at a much more reasonable price. "That took the debate onto whether school meals should be free and I said it would be wonderful, but would the Government have the courage to find the changes needed?" For more information about LACA visit www.laca.co.uk.