Chartwells

Chartwells Food Parcels for Free School Meals Are Unacceptable | Eater London

"A government-appointed private school-meals contractor has been widely criticised for supplying food parcels that, in some photographed examples, amounted to only about £5 worth of groceries when the scheme was intended to provide the equivalent of £30 of food for children during lockdown. High-profile campaigners including Marcus Rashford called the provision “unacceptable” and said children deserved “better.” One widely shared package — calculated using ASDA prices to be £5.30 for a supposed 10-day supply — reportedly contained one loaf of sliced bread, two carrots, a tin of beans, two potatoes, two bananas, three apples, one tomato, eight slices of cheese, a bag of penne pasta, three tubed yoghurts and two mini malt-loaf bars. The contractor has defended its practices by saying such images do not reflect its specification, but critics accuse the company of profiting from the crisis; it is the education division of the world’s largest catering group and has senior leaders with close corporate and political connections. Government guidance states parcels should be nutritious, varied and meet school-food standards, and the Department for Education says it will investigate; independent reports and campaigners have also documented repeated problems with private providers (including voucher administration failures and allegedly inflated retail values), arguing that poor quality, culturally inappropriate or insufficient parcels amount to a systemic failure that risks putting profit and cronyism ahead of hungry children." - Adam Coghlan