Agenda item

·         Councillor Sarah Merry (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member, Education, Employment and Skills) will be in attendance and may wish to make a statement;

·         Nick Batchelar (Director, Education and Lifelong Learning), Katie Palmer (Food Cardiff), Judith Gregory (Education Catering, City of Cardiff Council) and Emma Hill (Sport Cardiff) will give a presentation and answer Members’ questions;

·         Questions from Committee Members;

·         The Way Forward for this item will be considered at the end of the meeting.

The Committee received a report on the work of the School Holiday Enrichment Programme ‘Food and Fun’.  The programme is an innovative way to prevent children from going hungry during the school holidays and to reduce the impacts of poverty and social deprivation.

Members were advised that school holidays sometimes present difficulties for low-income families whose children benefit from free school breakfast and lunches.  Some children miss meals during the school holidays.  Furthermore, the lack of free play schemes and sports activities impact most on disadvantaged children.  Missing meals, a sedentary lifestyle and social isolation in the holidays reinforce existing health inequalities and social isolation and also undermines the success of free school breakfast and lunch policies.

The ‘Food and Fun’ summer enrichment programme was developed and piloted in Cardiff in 2015 and it was then introduced across more areas of Wales in 2016.  The programme is the first UK example of a multi-agency project providing healthy meals, nutrition skills, sports and other physical activities in the school holidays.  The aim is to improve children’s health and promote learning.

The Chairperson welcomed Sarah Merry, Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills; Nick Batchelar, Director of Education; Katie Palmer, Food Cardiff, Judith Gregory, Education Catering and Emma Hill, Sport Cardiff to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member was invited to make a brief statement.

The Committee received a brief presentation.  Members were invited to comment, seek clarification or raise questions on the information received.  Those discussions are summarised as follows:

·         Members asked for clarification on the numbers of children attending the programme and the selection criteria used to allocate places on the programme.  Officers stated that the schools which sign up to the programme are located in areas of high deprivation.  Last year 416 children from across 10 school attended the programme.  There was an increase in the numbers attending this year but the finalised figures will not be available until October.  Each school will apply their own selection criteria.  Children are mainly in KS2 where need is identified.

·         The cost per child attending equated to approximately £20 per child per day in Cardiff, which compared to £30 per child per day across Wales.  Costings are difficult to calculated because funding was provided by a number of agencies.  However, the cost was approximately £8k per school.  Members noted that if the number of children attending the programme increased then the cost per child would be reduced accordingly.  The largest cost is that of staffing.  The child/adult ratio in some schools is optimal and in other schools is not.  Therefore, further efficiencies are possible.

·         When compared to voluntary schemes such as ‘Chomp’ which is run by Albany Baptist Church, the voluntary scheme is run by parents and volunteers.  They offer a 2-hour programme where children are accompanied by parents/carers and Foodbank Plus delivers a meal to a child.

·         Officers advised that schools were able to offer the programme during the Summer recess – either 4 days per week for 3 weeks or 3 days per week for 4 weeks.  The programme was offered to 21 schools on 13 different sites.

·         Members asked whether consideration had been given to shortening the hours from 0900 hours to 1500 hours so as to minimise the cost of providing the programme.  Officers stated that feedback indicated that parents support longer days as shorter turnaround times were more difficult to manage.  The longer day also offered more opportunity to vary the activities offered as part of the programme.

·         Officers were asked whether any consideration has been given to identifying children at risk from obesity as well as focussing on social deprivation.  Members were advised that no consideration has been given to date, but some consideration could be given.

AGREED – that the Chairperson writes on the Committee’s behalf to the Cabinet Member to convey their comments and observations.