Free school lunches scheme saved from the chopping block - for the time being

Associate Education Minister David Seymour has been clear the free school lunches programme must be 'affordable' for taxpayers.

The free school lunch programme will continue under the coalition Government - which is currently reviewing the scheme - but looks set to undergo a revamp that may include packaged foods.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour has confirmed the Government intends to “save” the scheme, but says it will need to do so “smarter and cheaper”.

“Under Labour’s budget, that would have stopped at the end of this year. We’re now saving it but that means we need to find up to $330 million to keep it going,” Seymour told Te Ao Māori News.

“What we are going to do is cut expenditure elsewhere, put money into the school lunch programme and then do it better, smarter and cheaper.”

Associate Education Minister David Seymour.

The “smarter, cheaper” version will possibly include packaged foods such as tinned fruit, muesli bars, bread and canned beans, NZME’s BusinessDesk reports.

The Associate Education Minister has been clear the programme must be “affordable” for taxpayers.

“What you’ll see is something that is fairer, more affordable for the taxpayer. We can’t just keep borrowing and spending. That’s had a massive impact on people and made life a lot harder than it needs to be because it’s b****ered up the rest of the economy.”

The Health Coalition Aotearoa, co-chaired by Professor Lisa Te Morenga (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Te Rarawa), has consistently emphasised that the Ka Ora, Ka Ako free school lunches programme must focus on healthy food options and should steer clear of processed packaged foods for nutritional reasons.

In April, former education minister and Labour education spokeswoman Jan Tinetti told NZME the Labour government made it clear during the election it would fund healthy school lunches “on a long-term basis”, including how it would pay for it.