Shocked at the chemists!!!

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

 

 

Yup, if they got an increase in budget to cover the meals then all is good.

 

My thoughts on this is that you know 63 get free school meals, probably could identify which ones too, don't think we should be able to do this. At secondary school the 'free' meals got tokens, we paid in cash and knew who was 'poor' - I think this is an added pressure to kids that can be avoided by keeping payment or not discrete from the children.

 

If the catering staff are there and paid for regardless, the kitchen is there and paid for anyway, then the cost of a meal is just the cost of the food? So the paid for meals can be 'at cost' - and all can get a school meal (parents pay, school pays, state pays, however)? Economies of scale should make a school lunch cheaper than you can make at home.

Well yes; but of course in the long run we all know there is pressure on budgets, and something ends up giving.  And in the case of a school it will be lack of staff, maintenance, facilities

 

And no, many schools (certainly all the state schools in my area) simply buy in the meals from a large caterer so the cost is per pupil.  So in my kids old school the cost really would increase by £124,000 per year.

 

And these days the payment is online by parents, so the kids have no idea who gets free meals and who has it paid by parents.

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, AHPP said:

 

See my reply to difflock on economies of scale themselves. Also consider this on the cost of doing something privately vs the cost of government "doing" it. The government way will always be more expensive. The labour, fuel, materials etc all costs the same on both sides of the equation but when government is doing it, you're paying extra for the extra layer of bureaucracy, politicians, civil servants etc. A government administered service is always more expensive, whether you can see the cost or not.

Agreed.  In fact both my kids used to complain about the quality of the bought in meals, and in the end asked for packed lunches, which of course was a fraction the price for us as parents.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

At secondary school the 'free' meals got tokens, we paid in cash and knew who was 'poor'

We used to hand in our  5 shillings every Monday and as you say those too poor were readily identified and looking back I am sure I, amongst others, discriminated against them, for which I am ashamed.

[Steven P]

I might add.... it is a long time since I had a school meal - the systems have changed since then

[pleasant]

5 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Which is the way things are trending

They are starting to realise the advances in medical science finding cures for this and that, and prolonging illnesses which 20 or 30 years ago would have been terminal within a few months, thus creating an ageing population who will continue to draw state pension and all the other subsidised government 'perks' actually is costing a lot more money on the system than they thought. Getting to the point there will be more taking out than putting in the pot.

[Steven P]

9 minutes ago, pleasant said:

Getting to the point there will be more taking out than putting in the pot.

 

Yes, that is going to be a problem in about 15 years - the UK population is predicted to fall, and of course the fall will start from the bottom upwards leading to an aging population (same too with most of Europe). 

 

The solutions are not popular though, increase the retirement age to return our retirement length to about 5 to 10 years, pay more into the system in taxes, import young workers (who can work and pay taxes), or cut services and maintenance of the country (like roads and so on)

[spudulike]

The only comment on school dinners I have is "What was that Gypsy Tart stuff?

I only had it at school and have never seen it before

[Ty Korrigan]

OY! 

Baggers!

BUS WANKA!

 

Apply for an older person's bus pass - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

---

Some older people can get free travel on local buses - contact your council to check your eligibility and apply for a...

 

[pleasant]

12 minutes ago, spudulike said:

The only comment on school dinners I have is "What was that Gypsy Tart stuff?

I only had it at school and have never seen it before

Its a traditional kent dessert. Very nice, but quite sickly. Morrison branches in kent sell it on a regular basis according to one of my relatives that live there 

[spudulike]

Ah....a Kent Dessert....that was where I had it at school and it was sickly for sure.