The Scoop: LACA and new Chair’s plans for the future

In September 2022 it was announced that all primary age school children in Wales would be eligible for free school meals.

The Universal Primary Free School Meals (UPFSM) programme is a response to the rising cost of living and the goal of ensuring that no child goes hungry in school.

Other wider benefits include promoting healthy eating, increasing the variety of food options and improving social skills, behaviour and attainment.

LACA sits at the heart of school food delivery, representing over 3,300 different organisations and individuals, all dedicated to ensuring that our children get the benefits from a healthy, nutritious school lunch. The organisation is campaigning for UK nations to ‘Level it up’ to ensure all children get access to healthy and nutritious meals. It’s a mission that we support at Radnor Hills.

This month, The Source has been talking to new LACA Chair Judith Gregory about her plans in her new role. She undertakes the role in addition to her day job as the head of school meals for Cardiff Council where she is responsible for 113 schools and 450 catering staff.

Are you excited about your new role?

Yes, very, particularly as it’s the first time in over ten years that a Welsh person is in the role. I plan to focus on building relationships. We’ve got a new UK government who want to be more collaborative. It’s early days, but knowing the workings of government from my experience with Welsh Government will help me. It’s also good that the Department of Education and the Welsh Government are in regular contact with each other, which will be useful. The Chair role is only for 12 months so there’s a lot to do!

What are the biggest challenges?

There are 22 local authorities in Wales and, of these, 20 produce their school meal service in-house and only two contract their service out. It’s brilliant to see local authorities working together, sharing information and helping each other.

We’ve had exciting projects funded by Welsh Government aimed at getting more organically-produced Welsh vegetables and locally sourced food into primary school meals across Wales. A free breakfast scheme for primary school children has been running in Wales for 20 years. And during the pandemic we worked together to help shape the support that eFSM children got during lockdown.

We’ve even got a support group providing advice and support between local authorities – it’s very inclusive.

It’s not the same culture in England, where the school meal service is much more fragmented and there are a range of different providers. I’m hoping to make some inroads to develop similar relationships with the DoE that I’ve had with Welsh Government.

We also need to see more funding being provided for school meals in England, a minimum of a daily £3 spend per child, and breakfast will be high on the agenda for the new Labour Government. We need more information from DFE on how the breakfast provision will work.

What are your plans?

I’ve got a number of objectives I want to focus on. These include:

– Continue with the messaging for England focusing on the differences in funding, so that there is consistency across all four UK nations along with the ringfencing of funding.

– Provide expertise to the DfE with the design of the planned free breakfast provision for primary schools in England.

– Use every opportunity to promote the great work that is being achieved by school caterers across the UK and ensure that LACA is the “go to” organisation for all things school food.

– Continue the focus on extending benefit based Free School Meals to all families on Universal Credit and exploring auto enrolment.

Tell us a bit about your professional background

I’m a home economist by trade. When I left college, I started my career working as a catering manager for Marks & Spencer, before moving into the university sector. I’m really proud of the work we did at Cardiff Council to develop their Food & Fun Holiday provision. In 2017 the initiative was adopted and funded by the Welsh Government and rolled out to all schools in Wales. Today there are 29 schools in Cardiff alone delivering the programme.

How important is it to have the support of partners like Radnor Hills?

It’s very important to have the support of local manufacturers, like Radnor Hills. As part of Welsh Government’s UPFSM (Universal Primary Free School Meals) commitment, efforts will boost locally sourced products for school meals in Wales, benefiting local economies, communities, and the environment.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

I love my job because all that we do benefits children and families. For many children a school lunch is their only hot meal of the day. It can help reduce health inequalities and make a real difference to their lives.