Schools Meals Contract Extension Report - Lot 1 (Primary and Nurseries) and Lot 2 (Secondary).
Reasons for urgency:
School Meals are an essential front-line service used by children and young people in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) which ensures that school aged children eat at least one nutritionally balanced meal each day. Free school meals are a statutory Local Authority duty. This report seeks an Urgent Leader’s Decision to enable contracts to be extended and critical services maintained beyond June 2019.
Following an initial period of consultation with Headteachers and School Business Managers towards the end of 2018, mixed feedback was received in relation to service performance for some schools which required analysis and additional consultation to understand and develop responses to. In addition to this, there has been ongoing financial stability issues for one provider with the parent company recently going into administration. This has been the subject of close financial monitoring. The situation is further complicated by potential supply chain risks relating to Brexit.
Decision type: Key
Reason Key: Expenditure/Income over £5m & policies or new income, reserves use, overspend over £300K;
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Notice of proposed decision first published: 18/04/2019
Reason for urgency:
School Meals are an essential front-line service used by children and young people in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) which ensures that school aged children eat at least one nutritionally balanced meal each day. Free school meals are a statutory Local Authority duty. This report seeks an Urgent Leader’s Decision to enable contracts to be extended and critical services maintained beyond June 2019.
Following an initial period of consultation with Headteachers and School Business Managers towards the end of 2018, mixed feedback was received in relation to service performance for some schools which required analysis and additional consultation to understand and develop responses to. In addition to this, there has been ongoing financial stability issues for one provider with the parent company recently going into administration. This has been the subject of close financial monitoring. The situation is further complicated by potential supply chain risks relating to Brex
Report access: Open report with exempt appendix;
Report Type: Key Decision;
Decision due: 1 May 2019 by Leader of the Council
Lead member: Cabinet Member for Children and Education
Lead director: Director Children's Services
Department: Children's Services Department
Contact: Will Parsons Email: Will.Parsons@lbhf.gov.uk Tel: 0776 848 6764.
Reason No Public Access: PART OPEN PART PRIVATE Part of this report is exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information) under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.