3. Will the First Minister make a statement on the operation of cashless payment systems for school meals? OAQ51615

There are many benefits to schools using cashless systems: helping schools meet the requirement to protect the identity of learners, for example, who receive free school meals, and preventing the situation arising of children losing their lunch money.

There is, of course, evidence of a link between cashless payment systems and better take-up of free school meals, and that's why I've supported and campaigned for their introduction in every school in Wales. Powys has done that and I think that's absolutely fantastic, but we now have a situation whereby children whose parents pay for lunch and who haven't topped up their cards will no longer be able to get any food. I understand the council's position in this, but it can't be right, in my view, that a child will go hungry in school because someone, somewhere along the line, has forgotten or cannot afford to pay for the dinner money that particular week.

I'm particularly concerned that this is sorted out before the introduction of universal credit, which is going to happen in Powys in June. We all know about the delays in people getting their money and I'm really, really concerned that, in this system, that could cause an absolute failure for those people expecting that money to be in place and their children to be fed, which will not happen. I therefore respectfully ask you, First Minister, if you could have a word with your two Cabinet Secretaries to try and sort this out. There's an urgency that it's done before June. 

Yes. I'm more than happy to pursue that. My own son's school introduced cashless payments this term, which I have to say, saved on scrambling around for pound coins every week, which is what tended to happen in our house. The important point is this: I don't think it would be right that if there's no credit in a child's account, as it were, that that child should not have a meal as a result of that. There should be a system in place where parents are reminded in a timely fashion as to what the balance is on that account and not find out about it when the account has nothing in it. Certainly, I'll ask the Cabinet Secretary for Education to take this up and to reply to my friend and colleague in further detail.FootnoteLink

Information further to Plenary

As I understand it, First Minister, different local authorities across Wales use different payment methods, which does sometimes cause a problem when children move schools. I wonder if you believe that there is rationale in standardising payment methods across Wales.

I think there is rationale in that. First of all, of course, it makes sense for there to be a standard system across a local education authority area. Of course, we have local management of schools, but it would seem strange to parents that, if a child moved schools somehow there would then be a problem with having a different account with a different balance in it or not having a cashless system. I think it's fair to say that we should move towards a standardised system in future.