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March 28, 2024, 06:15:12 PM

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A Free Lunch

Started by Buelligan, January 13, 2021, 10:15:08 AM

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Buelligan

Just reading this morning about the free school meals food parcels being offered to families in lockdown.  The items below were intended to feed a child properly for between one school week and ten days.  They are supposed to enable that feeding without the addition of other ingredients -


"Public funds were charged £30. I'd have bought this for £5.22," said Twitter user Roadside Mum of the parcel she received

Quote from: The BBCA mother who posted a photo on social media of a food parcel she received has told of the "sense of sadness" she felt on seeing what it contained.

The mother, who wants to be anonymous, told the BBC: "As I unpacked that food parcel... and looked at the contents, it felt very sad and depressing."

Chartwells, the firm which supplied the parcel, has apologised.

Asked about photos of the parcels, the health secretary said the contents were "clearly inadequate".

Chartwells is owned by the Compass Group.  The CEO of the Compass Group is Dominic Blakemore whose remuneration package was listed as totalling £4.7 million in 2019.

Quote from: WikipediaIn January 2021, a catering company owned by the group of which Blakemore is chief executive officer was accused of skimming over 80% from government payments aimed at providing free school meals to underprivileged families in the UK.  Chartwells, the outsourced school meals supplier owned by Compass had previously been heavily criticised in March 2020 by head teachers and local members of the Parliament for "profiteering" by supplying school meals for £11 that consisted of little more than pre-packaged snacks. Vicky Ford MP, Minister for Children promised an urgent investigation. Multiple campaigners against Chartwells' provision suggested Blakemore was a Conservative party donor when the controversy broke. No donations above the £500 minimum set by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 were recorded on the Electoral Commission website at that time.

Given the outrage, less than a year ago, at the lack of value for tax payers money one does wonder why Chartwells got the contract but then you remember Dido Harding and shit like this -

Quote from: The GuardianUnder the cover of an emergency, the government awarded £18bn in coronavirus-related contracts during the first six months of the pandemic, most with no competitive tendering processes. Meanwhile contracts totalling £1.5bn have gone to companies with connections to the Conservative party. Call it a "chumocracy" or straightforward incompetence: it's clear there's been a woeful lack of transparency when it comes to how taxpayers' money is spent.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55641740
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/21/tories-covid-contracts-public-trust-government

DrGreggles



Buelligan

Ah, sorry, I don't go in that forum much because it's all about the COVID but yes.