RADICAL changes to the primary school meals service are set to be completed by April next year - two years earlier than first planned.

Cumbria County Council wants to slash primary school catering costs by £2.2 million and devolve the meals budget, enabling individual schools to buy in their own service by 2004.

The changes were initially planned over a three-year period but CCC cabinet announced this week that the operation would be complete by April.

Officers said that once they began looking at the work in detail it became apparent that it would be more practical to make the changes in one step.

Education Spokesman Coun Joan Stocker said: "As we proceeded it became clear it would be much more straight forward and much less disruptive if we did it all at once.

"I fully expect that this time next year we will see a modern school meals service providing high quality meals, meals that are popular with children and a service that provides excellent value for money."

CCC Labour leader Stewart Young said the new timescale was politically motivated to ensure budget savings came on line before the next CCC election.

He said £2.2 million would be cut from the meals budget before it was delegated to schools in a move that primaries had objected to in consultation.

"Smaller schools are going to suffer most because the funding formula will be based on pupil numbers and whatever your school size there will be fixed costs to meet," he said.

Primary and special school meals are currently provided centrally through Cumbria Contract Services but, once devolved budgets come on line in April 2004, schools will be able to shop around. Governors can choose to buy back from CCS, provide meals with their own staff or buy meals from an external contractor.

Critics including Labour leaders and union bosses have argued cost-cutting measures in the school catering budget could see hot meals scrapped in rural schools and force up to 600 staff into redundancy.

A report presented to cabinet this week stated: "A programme of visits to schools to explore their likely requirements has already commenced. It may have to be followed by a programme of redundancies late in the financial year 2003/4 depending on the outcome of union consultation when it should become clear whether there are staff who are surplus to requirements and if so how many. The numbers involved could be considerable, possibly up to 600."

But CCC leaders argue it is the only way to bring the service up to date and stop the meals service acting as a drain on the education budget.

Deputy leader Mike Ash said: "It is about modernisation and making the service fit for the purpose."

May 22, 2003 15:00