7. Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Update on Free School Meals

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:56 pm on 20 September 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 5:56, 20 September 2022

They've worked incredibly hard to make sure that as many young people as possible are able to benefit from this policy, in accordance with a very, very short time frame, and that applies to all authorities in Wales. As I say, where there are a small number of schools that need still to make some infrastructure changes, they are complying with the policy in a different way: so, for example, providing the cold meals, as I was saying earlier, as an interim step to facilitate the roll-out of the broader programme, but that is in a way that is communicated to parents.

There are a number of authorities who are saying to us, 'We aren't yet able to commit to that further roll-out of years 1 and 2 in April', which is six months away from where we are now. We are working with those authorities to be able to—you know, where they have particular infrastructure challenges, to work with them to be able to solve those, so that we can get them to a position where they can also make that commitment. It's not a blanket position; it's particular schools in particular, in a very small number of authorities. But, as he will know, the judgment that you have to grapple with in this position is: do you only roll out when every authority can commit to every single school from day 1? Or, given the scale of the challenge, which I know the Member obviously recognises, I think the better judgment in this case is to make sure that the vast majority of children are getting it today, and to work over the interim period with other authorities to make sure that those targets are met as well, which is what we're all doing.