Decision details

That  the allocation of £386,780 Universal Infant Free School Meal Capital Grant to schools based on the outcome of the specialist consultant’s reports on school kitchen sufficiency be agreed. 

The Local Authority was allocated £386,780 capital funding for Local Authority Maintained schools and £30,824 for Voluntary Aided schools from the Government for 2014/15 to ensure they are able to deliver the new requirement that every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 in state funded schools can receive a free school meal from September 2014. 

As all Bromley primary schools have kitchens capable of providing a hot meal, the capital funding will be utilised to address significant issues with school kitchen sufficiency and infrastructure across the Borough.  To support this, the Local Authority employed a specialist consultant to undertake a sufficiency audit of the kitchen provision in Local Authority Maintained and Voluntary Aided schools across the Borough to identify and prioritise kitchens that require capital investment, excluding kitchens of schools permanently expanding as part of the school Basic Need Programme.  In June 2014, the outcome of this audit was reported, and Officers are working with the Bromley Primary Consortium Group and individual schools to agree capital allocations from the grant.