DORSET'S cabinet member for education should consider resigning her position over the school meals fiasco, a furious MP has said.

Annette Brooke, the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, said cabinet member Toni Coombs had ‘let down headteachers, parents and pupils’ with her handling of the issue.

As revealed in yesterday’s Echo, Cllr Coombs has now admitted the county council had known about potential problems with the free school meal roll-out three months ago.

Initially, Cllr Coombs, who is also Dorset's cabinet member for communications, said school meals provider Chartwells hadn’t informed Dorset County Council about a fire that destroyed its kitchen in the Ferndown Industrial Estate until the start of term.

She has now confirmed she had known about the fire but had ‘forgotten’ she had been told about it.

Mrs Brooke said: “I think she should be seriously considering her position, considering the number of schools, parents and pupils she has let down.

“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t carefully scrutinise and monitor this and why there wasn’t a contingency plan in place.

“I’ve made enquiries in London and I have concluded that Dorset is the worst place in the country for the implementation of free school meals.

“This is a good policy and I am so cross about all these problems because they could have been avoided.”

She said it would now be a tough task to convince parents and schools of the value of free school lunches and added: “There are long term consequences to this which is why I think the person accountable has got to be considering her position.

“They should also look over the boundaries to see how other authorities have managed.”

A county council spokesman said: “Councillor Coombs will not be resigning and does not feel she has anything to resign over.”

 

School meals provider Chartwells has reassured parents it is on track to recommence a full hot lunch service in November.

In a letter to parents, the Surrey-based catering company said it was working hard to resolve ‘unexpected operational issues’ and would be fulfilling its obligations and providing hot lunches to all schools after the October half-term.

Chartwells and Dorset County Council are at the centre of the current school meals fiasco, which started on the first day of term.

Despite assurances from a council spokesman that everything was in place to ensure the smooth provision of hot lunches, many schools in Dorset were let down by Chartwells.

Some schools received no meals at all, others received partial orders or meals too late to be served and others complained about the quality of the food they received. Some schools were problem-free going into the second week of term but there are still 23 schools that will receive only packed lunches for six weeks.