The Case of The School Meals Service

Abstract

Since 197.9 British social policy has witnessed a marked abandonment of the po&war principles of "universalism" inspired by the Beveridge Report. A deliberately residualist approach has been adopted and narrower criteria ofselection have variously been imposed in areas of social welfare provision.This paper represents an attempt to asse.rs and evaluate lhis trend in one area o f wegare provision -the school meals service -by developing a historical analysis of an earlier period (1918-1.939) when a residual model of welfarejrmly held sway.From an examination of historical evidence relating to the inter-waryears, it is suggested that in important respects the present situation with regard to the provision of food f o r children while at school recreates many o f the circumstances which pertained during that pre-war period. Then as now selectivily, "targeting", and,fierce Treasury restrictions upon public expenditure were very much the order of the day.I n the light of the problems of administrative fragmentation, and of the failures, inconsistencies and injustices of those policies which characterized school meals provision during that earlierperiod, it is concluded that con temporary developmen ts within this service are disquieting, and a close scrutirq o j the nutritional and other consequences is essential. The historical backgroundEver since children and young people were gathcred together in one place for purposes of receiving instruction, questions concerning the ncccssary and appropriate supply of food and drink have arisen. Indeed food itself may be usrd as an inducement to attract childrrn into school in thc first place;' while to offer appetising food in school may serve to limit truancy arid aid thc cducational proccss generally.Children worldwidc now are spending longcr periods of their livcs in educational institutions, so that the food and drink consumed upon such prcmises are providing an increasingly significant part of thcir nutritional needs. Moreover childhood habits last a lifetime, and school-based learning of both a formal and an informal kind may influencc young people's eating habits Tor the rest oftheir lives. 2 2 6