Schools: Catering

(asked on 17th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support the school catering industry during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 15th January 2021

Until the end of the summer term, schools could continue to make payments to suppliers under the provisions of the Cabinet Office guidance for public bodies in ‘Procurement Policy Note 02/20’ and ‘Procurement Policy Note 04/20’ if they considered it appropriate in order to maintain delivery of critical services. These are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0220-supplier-relief-due-to-covid-19 and: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0420-recovery-and-transition-from-covid-19. Payments covered the cost of free school meals and universal infant free school meals, but not the costs of meals usually purchased by parents for pupils who are not eligible for free school meals.

More recently, the government has updated its wide package of measures to help support businesses. Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-businesses-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

Companies within the catering industry may also be able to claim support under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been extended to 30 April 2021. Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wages-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

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