Financial controls are to be tightened on the hot school meals programme after a report by the State’s spending watchdog recommended steps to safeguard public funds.
The report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) is being discussed at this morning’s meeting of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee.
While it found there had been robust governance arrangements, it identified opportunities to strengthen financial controls, procurement assurance and performance monitoring.
It particularly recommended increased use of real-time school enrolment data, having found that enrolment figures submitted by schools were not being routinely verified against official enrolment records, with 1,116 primary schools having applied for funding in excess of their recorded enrolment numbers.
It also identified some schools which held surpluses at the end of the school year due to the assumption that 100 per cent of pupils would avail of a hot meal every day – with this figure approaching €34 million at the start of the last academic year.
However, any surplus amounts are deducted from new allocations to schools, it acknowledged.
The C&AG report outlined that 682,000 children are eligible to partake in the programme across 3,700 schools every week – equating to 3.4 million school meals each week.
With total expenditure rising from €54.3 million in 2019 to €230 million in 2025, the programme is funded and overseen by the Department of Social Protection while individual schools are responsible for contracting out the supply of food.
A small number of instances were identified where dedicated school meals bank accounts were used in schools for purposes outside the programme. It found historical weaknesses in compliance when it came to procurement, but noted this had improved as the programme expanded.
With five suppliers accounting for a significant proportion of programme provision, the C&AG flagged concentration of suppliers as a potential strategic risk.
It recommended that the department review its financial management controls to ensure all information, including enrolment data, was being effectively used to safeguard public funds and reduce the level of surplus funding.
It wants a formal check on enrolment numbers to detect any large gaps between the number of pupils enrolled and the number of meals being funded, as well as review the assumption that all pupils eat a hot meal every day.
The department has committed to implementing these recommendations.
In opening remarks supplied in advance of the PAC meeting, Department of Social Protection secretary general John McKeon said improvements had already been put in place around procurement supports for schools.
He said he was confident that the process around surplus funding meant the risk to exchequer funds was “very small”, adding he accepted the C&AG’s observations and had moved to implement its recommendations.