IT is still unclear who made a ‘high risk’ decision to offer the school meals contract to a single company, councillors were told.

Dorset County Council’s cabinet was presented with a report which ‘pulled no punches’ this morning in an urgent addition to the agenda following an audit and scrutiny investigation.

The meeting at County Hall in Dorchester heard:

  • An action plan will be put in place taking into account the key findings of the audit and scrutiny committee within three months
  • Schools will receive minimum compensation of £2,100 and parents will also be refunded
  • It is the second time in four years when problems have arisen after a large contract has been handed to a single provider

Chairman of the audit and scrutiny committee, Cllr Trevor Jones, thanked the cabinet for agreeing at the last minute to discuss the findings, which otherwise would not have been put before them until the next meeting in December.

The report, which Cllr Jones admitted was put together ‘in some haste’, stated that questions remain unanswered as to who agreed to let the contract to Chartwells.

It states: “This was done in mid summer but it is not clear who made the decision except that it was not made by the Cabinet, which is surprising given its value and importance.”

It adds: “The committee were not reassured that the opportunities of procuring the service as a multiple provider contract had been fully explored. Putting all the eggs in one basket was a high risk strategy.”

The report goes on to label communications with schools by Chartwells and the county council as ‘hopeless’, ‘not fit for purpose’ and ‘a disgrace’.

Cabinet members hit back with claims that the report contained ‘inflammatory’ language and ‘colloquialisms’.

Cllr Colin Jamieson said: “I find it is subjective in its methodology and quite inflammatory when we should be reporting things in a more factual way.”

And Cllr Robert Gould remarked on the report’s use of ‘colloquialisms’ and said the risk had been taken to ensure all schools had access to a contract.

Cllr Toni Coombs, cabinet member for education and communications, said there had been a pre-existing pan-Dorset contract for school meals.

She added: “If everything had gone to plan it should have gone forward neatly. The fire threw everything into chaos. I do not think that came across strongly enough in the audit and scrutiny meeting.”

Cllr Jill Haines added: “The portfolio holders may have more information than backbench members but we are not experts in the field. Officers are experts in the field.”

But Cllr Peter Wharf, who sits on the audit and scrutiny committee, accused cabinet of playing ‘referee’, adding: “What I’ve heard so far does not fill me with confidence that there is a recognition that cabinet can be challenged.”

Cllr Spencer Flower, chairing the meeting, said if things do not go ‘according to plan’ it is appropriate that there is a ‘body of members’ to examine what happened.

He added: “The issues the contractor had to deal with were unforeseen but there were issues around their ability to recognise the impact of that.”

The cabinet agreed to put into place an action plan to ensure similar issues do not happen in other services.

Cllr Coombs added that schools will receive minimum compensation of £2,100 broken down into £300 for printing costs, £1,400 for food purchasing and £400 for labour costs.

Those more severely affected will receive higher reimbursement.

Parents will be refunded for meals for each school day from the start of term to September 9 and for every day between September 10 and 30 where deliveries did not turn up or were late.

Main message is to have action plan to 'learn lessons'

SPEAKING after the meeting, Cllr Trevor Jones said: “The report did not pull any punches so it is not surprising that some members of the cabinet were not all that comfortable with it. Nevertheless the leader accepted the main message which was to have an action plan to learn lessons.

“This is unfortunately the second time in a few years that a major contract has been let largely to a single provider who has then defaulted on day one. Previously it was home to school transport. Now it is school meals and there really has to be a recognition that putting so many eggs in one basket is very risky.”

He added: “We will now work together to try and map out a better way of handling these issues.”