“In the Plaid – independent budget for 2018/19 you announced an above inflation increase of 10p per meal for school dinners.
After I questioned the wisdom of this decision and the effects it would have on hard working Carmarthenshire families the executive board member for education stood up and made a u turn on what you said and I quote “We decided this year that there wasn’t to be an increase in school meals, but in discussions I’ve had with the director and officers, it was passed last year that there should have been a 10p increase. Well can I tell you that I am now striving with the officers so that we can maintain school meals at £2.50. I don’t think we will see an increase in school meals this year. That’s what we are working hard to achieve.”
Can you confirm to us and the residents of Carmarthenshire what price parents will have to pay in 2018/19 for their child’s meal or will you do a u turn on your u turn.
Minutes:
“In the Plaid-Independent budget for 2018/19 you announced an above inflation increase of 10p per meal for school dinners. After I questioned the wisdom of this decision and the effects it would have on hard working Carmarthenshire families the executive board member for education stood up and made a u turn on what you said and I quote “We decided this year that there wasn’t to be an increase in school meals, but in discussions I’ve had with the director and officers, it was passed last year that there should have been a 10p increase. Well can I tell you that I am now striving with the officers so that we can maintain school meals at £2.50. I don’t think we will see an increase in school meals this year. That’s what we are working hard to achieve.” Can you confirm to us and the residents of Carmarthenshire what price parents will have to pay in 2018/19 for their child’s meal or will you do a u turn on your u turn?”
Response by Councillor David Jenkins, Executive Board Member for Resources:-
“In your question you state “In the Plaid–Independent budget for 2018/19 you announced an above inflation increase of 10p per meal for school dinners” and you questioned the wisdom of this decision. I would like to point out that in the first instance the increase you refer to was included as part of the budget setting process in 2016 when the budget for 2017/18 was being considered and set. In your speech you put great store in the fact that this was an above inflation increase of 10p per meal and mentioned the effects it would have on hard working Carmarthenshire families, I would ask you are these the same hard working Carmarthenshire families that lived in Carmarthenshire in 2015 when in March of that year the then Labour led Local Authority in setting the budget for 2015/16 and 2016/17 increased the price of the school meals by an inflation busting 10p per meal. It is also worth pointing out that in your response during the budget debate you proposed increasing Council Tax to 4.95% thereby introducing a further £400K burden on to the hard working Carmarthenshire families. Back in March 2015 Councillor Jeff Edmunds was the Executive Board Portfolio Holder for Resources with responsibility for setting the budget before he became, in May of that year, the Leader of the Labour Group, who were then subsequently consigned on to the opposition benches. It would seem to me that members opposite are suffering with short term memory loss, don’t speak to each other or have developed convenient memories in respect of bygone events. It was during the 2015 budget setting process that Plaid revealed that a sum of £20 million was floating around surplus to requirement within the Earmarked Capital Fund and that the then Labour led administration were seemingly unaware of its existence and had no ideas as to what use that money should be put. When Plaid became part of the administration in May of that year it was decided that this money would be used to kick start economic regeneration within the county, a process which is being maintained and subsequently added to by the emergence of the Swansea Bay City Deal. So I don’t think we have much to learn from Labour’s financial acumen. However, I digress, and returning to your question you make reference to comments made by my colleague Councillor Glynog Davies the Executive Board Member with responsibility for Education and state that he had made an u turn on what I said, to which I respond that to the best of my recollection at the meeting on the 21st February just gone we set a balanced budget for 2018/19 and that budget included at this time the 10p per school meal increase proposal, however, it is apparent that Councillor Davies has been concerned about this proposed increase for some time and feels strongly about wanting to reverse this increase and he then went on to say that “Well can I tell you that in discussions I’ve had with the director and officers I am now striving so that we can maintain school meals at £2.50. I don’t think we will see an increase in school meals this year. That’s what we are working hard to achieve.” I say if the Education Department are able to revisit their current budget to negate the need for the 10p per meal increase I am sure that colleague Executive Board Members and I will do all we can do to support Councillor Davies to achieve his ambition. The world of public finance is a moving feast as exemplified by Welsh Government finding additional funding for Local Authorities after the December Final Budget Settlement, we as a county have benefited from an additional £2.2 million for highway maintenance and as late as early March an additional £880K was allocated to schools to assist in the maintenance of schools. As you can see things move and change and we have to adapt to that. In the last paragraph of your question you ask “Can you confirm to us and the residents of Carmarthenshire what price parents will have to pay in 2018/19 for their child’s meal or will you do a u turn on your u turn”. In response I would say that as at this moment in time the 10p school meal increase remains as part of the 2018/19 budget but if Councillor Glynog Davies, in conjunction with the Director and Senior Officers of the Education Department, achieves his ambition then it may be possible to revisit the charge proposed for school meals in the 2018/19 financial year. Finally I would ask you a question, that if you do an u turn on an u turn don’t you end up in the position you first started from? Which is exactly where I am.”
Councillor Prosser asked the following supplementary question:-
“I would seriously ask you to reconsider the increase in school meals for the hard working parents of Carmarthenshire.”
Response by Councillor David Jenkins, Executive Board Member for Resources:-
“The end result is that, at this moment in time, the 10p increase stands but if Councillor Glynog Davies, in co-operation with his departmental heads and director, if they can re-negotiate their budgets and come back to us with a better offer I will be perfectly happy to accept that.”