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Principals welcome Auditor-General’s school lunch scheme inquiry, keen to see results
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Principals say they will be keeping a close eye on the Auditor-General’s inquiry into the revamped school lunch programme that has been riddled with problems.
The Ministry of Education’s programme has been under fire since the School Lunch Collective took over provision of lunches to about 430 schools this year, shaving millions off the cost of the scheme.
The watchdog said the inquiry was prompted by concerns raised both in the media and directly with its office.
The lunch scheme was plagued by problems in term one, with criticism of late, inedible, repetitive or nutritionally lacking lunches, and even a case of a lunch containing melted plastic.
Rotorua’s Kaitao Intermediate principal Phil Palfrey was pleased there would be an inquiry, but said it had come too late.
He said a review should have taken place before the new system was up and running.
“I actually put the question to Associate Minister of Education David Seymour last week and said, why wasn’t there a review done then, and that could’ve given the savings that were required if that had been audited and checked on prior to making holus-bolus changes which, in my view, and certainly in my school’s experience, has been a very unsuccessful journey,” he said.
Palfrey said his school of 260 pupils faced problem after problem with the new programme, including lunches being too late, too early or too spicy.
This term meals had been arriving on time but children were refusing to eat them, he said.
“It’s the quality of the meals that makes us think that the system still is just not working properly. The issue with us, and it is very sad, is that a least a third of our kids are just returning them. I don’t like that, it’s not what I envisaged years ago when we wanted this programme to come in,” he said.
The Auditor-General’s inquiry will cover the Education Ministry’s oversight of the lunch programme.
It will examine the ministry’s decision-making – including how the model was developed and how providers were selected.
But it will not look into the policy decisions underpinning the model, nor the merits of selecting a particular provider.
In its announcement, the office noted the ministry had in October last year awarded a two-year contract to the School Lunch Collective, reportedly for $85 million a year, under which lunches would be provided for $3 each. The ministry was also reported to have paid a further $8.9m to the collective for Year 9 and older students.
Associate Minister of Education David Seymour at the launch of the revamped programme last year. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Libelle Group, which had been part of the School Lunch Collective, went into liquidation on 11 March 2025.
A further $4 million grant was provided to KidsCan for a food programme in Early Childhood Education services.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour said the inquiry was welcome.
“I actually would like to offer [the Auditor-General] some of the lunches so he can audit them with his mouth, and I think what he’s going to find is a programme that has overcome some initial hurdles to deliver great value, very good lunches at half the price of Labour’s scheme,” he said.
Andy Ashworth is the principal of Murchison Area School, where lunches showed up with melted plastic in them last term.
He was glad an inquiry was happening, and that it would be looking into how the cost of each lunch was determined.
“I don’t believe the money being spent, which in theory is $3 per lunch, is a true cost because of the transport and other external factors … so I would suggest there is more money being spent than $3 per child and if that is the case why don’t we go back to a more localised scheme in certain areas, certainly in the rural areas where you can get more bang for your buck,” Ashworth said.
He said principals involved in the lunch scheme countrywide would be watching the review with interest.
“It’s very much still top of the mind … I see [the inquiry] as good news, hopefully it will make everybody more accountable and perhaps lead to some positive changes,” he said.
The Auditor-General will publish a report once the inquiry is completed and the report has been tabled in Parliament.
The School Lunch Collective declined RNZ’s request for an interview.
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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