School Meals

Summary

The request sought the Council of Ministers paper regarding options to extend the free school meal voucher scheme over the Easter holidays. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture disclosed the paper, which outlined the legal constraints and a £50,000 cost estimate for the proposed extension.

Key Facts

• The Department of Education, Sport and Culture lacks legal authority under the Education Act 2001 to provide free school meals during holiday periods without specific Treasury approval.
• A previous voucher scheme for the 2020 summer holidays was enabled by Treasury approval under the Financial Provisions and Currency Act 2011.
• Extending the voucher scheme for the two-week Easter break in 2021 was estimated to cost £50,000.
• The proposed scheme would require contingency funding from Treasury as it cannot be covered by the existing departmental budget.
• The paper was submitted to the Council of Ministers on 25th March 2021 for information purposes only.

Data Disclosed

• 2021-05-25
• 2021-06-18
• 25th March 2021
• 27 July 2020
• 6 September 2020
• 4th March
• 28th March
• £11.75
• £14.75
• £25,000
• £50,000
• Section 39 of the Education Act 2001
• Financial Provisions and Currency Act 2011 section 3(4)(a)
• Paper No. 2021/145

Original Request

I seek the publication of the paper submitted by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture to the Council of Ministers for providing options for the extension of the food voucher scheme.

Data Tables (4)

Full Response Text

Confidential Page 1 of 3

Council of Ministers Paper No. 2021/145 [Obtainable from ]

Paper for Council of Ministers
Routine Business

Department/Board/Office Department Education, Sport and Culture Chief Officer Graham Kinrade Responsible Officer

Cut ups to be sent to Graham Kinrade /

Date of Council Meeting
25th March 2021

Title Free School Meals Easter Holidays

*Collective Responsibility: (Mandatory field, please choose an option)

Not a Collective Responsibility matter *Which of the 3 Government Strategic Objectives does this proposal comply with?

Inclusive, Caring Society Which of the Council of Ministers Sub- Committees has considered this proposal?

Not applicable The proposal relates only to the Department’s core or statutory responsibilities

Not Applicable

Has appropriate internal and/or public consultation taken place? Not applicable Are there any resource/personnel implications? Yes Has Treasury concurrence been obtained where necessary? No Is the Department acting within its legal powers or has legal advice been obtained? (If yes confirm and provide evidence within the paper) No Are there any inter-Departmental implications?
No If yes, which other Departments are involved?

What is the intention of this paper?
Information Only Primary Legislation: Has Council Legislation Subcommittee approved the inclusion of the proposed Bill on the Legislative Programme. If Yes please give decision date:
No Major Policy Proposal/Primary Legislation:
Have you completed an Impact Assessment? If yes please attach a copy as an Appendix to the paper. No Have you taken appropriate Corporate Communications Service advice?
Not applicable Does this initiative/announcement have a communications plan?
Not applicable Purpose of the Paper:
To advise Council of the options for the extension of the food voucher scheme, available to the families of children eligible for free school meals to be extended over the Easter school holidays.

Mandatory sections Confidential Page 2 of 3

There are a number of mandatory sections indicated by * within this template that need completion in order that Council of Ministers can be fully appraised of the matter and decision required.

*Collective Responsibility:
Not Applicable

[Please indicate here the reasoning in respect of collective responsibility i.e. explain the link to the Statement of Intent or Programme for Government or Annual Budget. If the matter is considered one of National Importance, please define and explain – the categories are:
• Good Governance of the Island • National Security or Defence • Public Safety • Economic or Fiscal Stability of the Island Please ensure that the Minister of the Department has agreed this reasoning]

*Programme for Government:

Strategic Objective - An Inclusive and Caring Society. Indicator - Increase the number of people who say that Government policies/actions are making a positive difference to people’s lives. Outcome - We are tackling the inequalities in our Island society.

1. Introduction The Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) operates a Free School Meals (FSM) policy. FSM may be available to children who attend the Island's primary and secondary schools, or to students aged 18 and under who attend the University College Isle of Man on a full-time basis. During the previous and current lockdowns, the DESC in conjunction with Shoprite, have issued vouchers to the families of children who are eligible for FSM. These vouchers were redeemed at Shoprite stores. During the 2020 school summer holidays, the DESC continued to issue the vouchers.

2. Legal Basis Under the section 39 of the Education Act 2001, “The Department may provide or arrange for the provision of food and other refreshment for pupils in attendance at provided schools, maintained schools, special schools and colleges provided or maintained by the Department.” Whilst pupils were not physically present at schools they were taught remotely and not marked as absent. DESC does not have the legal vires to extend the issue of Free School meals during school holiday periods. During the 2020 summer holidays, Treasury approved the creation of a scheme under the Financial Provisions and Currency Act 2011 (section 3(4)(a)). This enabled DESC to create a scheme to provide for the payment of a grant in the form of 3 gift vouchers throughout the period from 27 July 2020 to 6 September 2020. This scheme expired on 6th September 2020. Confidential Page 3 of 3

3. Resource Implications During the March 2021 ‘fire break’ weekly vouchers have been issued with a face value of £11.75 for primary schools and £14.75 for secondary schools. The weekly cost of the vouchers is £25,000. Issuing vouchers over the 2 week Easter break would therefore cost £50,000. This cost cannot be contained within the existing DESC budget and contingency funding from Treasury would be required.

4. Options 4.1. Do Nothing Whilst vouchers were issued during summer 2020, no vouchers were provided over the autumn and spring half terms nor during Christmas. Parents received vouchers on 4th March which expire on 28th March, immediately prior to the beginning of the Easter holidays. Whilst the firebreak closures, to the 28th March equate to 18 days, issuing vouchers to cover the additional 3 days would seem inefficient. Clearly, should the current firebreak be extended into the Summer term the vouchers could be re-instated. 4.2. Issue Vouchers for 3 days Issuing vouchers with a face value £7.00 and £8.85 would cover the additional 3 days and would cost £15,000. The administration around this may make this option unattractive to retailers. 4.3. Provide vouchers over the Easter holiday DESC doesn’t have the legal vires to do this, it may be possible to use the Financial Provisions and Currency Act again but this would require Treasury approval, to create a new scheme. I am aware that there have discussions regarding the validity of using FP and Currency Act to support a scheme and Treasury concurrence is far from guaranteed, given the current financial position. Approval would also be required for £50,000 funding from contingency. Should approval be granted, a scheme would have to be drafted, which in turn would require CoMIN and Tynwald approval. It is unlikely that this could be achieved in time. If the Island has a food poverty issue, it would be more appropriately addressed through the benefits system, at present the DESC is at risk of stepping into that space and potentially setting a precedent.
5. Recommendation That option 4.1 , the ‘Do Nothing’ be approved.

Corporate Services Division Department of Education, Sport and Culture Hamilton House Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EZ Telephone: (01624) 685808 Website: www.gov.im/dec Email: dec@foi.gov.im Our ref: 1806669 18 June 2021

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 25 May 2021 and which states:

"I seek the publication of the paper submitted by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture to the Council of Ministers for providing options for the extension of the food voucher scheme." Our clarification request In order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for we needed to clarify the time period that you were seeking the information for. You advised “Specifically it is the paper referred to in the March extracts of proceedings for the Council of Ministers” Response

We have enclosed a copy of the Council of Ministers Paper which was submitted by the Department in relation to the options of issuing Free School Meal vouchers during the 2021 Easter holidays. Redacted content Some information received in relation to the Council of Ministers Paper contained personal information and under section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act (absolutely exempt personal information) is exempt and has therefore been redacted. The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • The Department is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and • The Department is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection

Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to The Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that the Department of Education, Sport and Culture can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

Please quote the reference number 1806669 in any future communications.

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