Councillors to vote on new contract to continue providing fresh, healthy school meals
School pupils across St Helens Borough look set to continue to benefit from freshly made locally sourced school meals should councillors agree a new food contract.
Article date: June 10 2025
At Cabinet next week councillors will be asked to approve two contracts with suppliers Harlech Food Services Ltd and Ralph Livesey Ltd to provide produce to the Schools Catering Service.
The service provides, on average, 10,400 school meals per day across primary, secondary and special schools. The service supports more than 60 schools on a daily basis and also delivers a catering service to the Taylor Park Boat House Café and Willowbees Café in Newton-le-Willows Health and Fitness Centre among other services.
Councillor Martin Bond, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance, said: "Our school catering service deliver thousands of school meals every week, alongside supporting other key catering services run by the council. This is a vital service that we're delivering with you, for you, committed to making sure children get freshly made meals every school day and this new contract, if approved by Cabinet, would allow us to continue to deliver on this commitment.
"The proposed contractors have made commitments also to schemes and supplier engagement to support the local supply chain. Other social value activity includes tree planting, local employment, support for local communities, young people and local foodbanks, with a commitment to a specified number of hours of social value throughout the duration of contract duration."
The new contracts will also ensure compliance with the national School Food Standards and meet the award criteria set as part of the services' Food for Life Bronze accreditation, including championing local produce, providing healthy food that is from environmentally sustainable sources. The contracts are vital for ensuring 5883 children eligible for free school meals have access to nutritious meals, for the provision of packed lunches in support of the HAF programme during school holidays and the continuation of work in collaboration with public health on initiatives to support children's health and wellbeing across the borough.
The contracts will be decided on at Cabinet on Wednesday 18 June: St Helens Borough Council Committee Report
Share this page
