Chapter IX: Appendix

_Recommendations of the Select Committee on Education_ (_Provision of Meals_) _Bill_, 1906.

"The evidence, verbal and documentary, placed before the Committee
has led them to arrive at the following general conclusions:--

"1. That it is expedient that the Local Education Authority should
be empowered to organise and direct the provision of a midday meal
for children attending Public Elementary Schools, and that
statutory powers should be given to Local Authorities to establish
Committees to deal with school canteens.

"2. That such Committees should be composed of representatives of
the Local Education Authority, representatives of the Voluntary
Subscribers, and where thought desirable a representative of the
Board of Guardians, and of the local branch of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children, where such exists. That the Head
Teacher, the School Attendance Officer, and the Relieving Officer
should work in association with such Committee.

"3. That power should be given for the Local Education Authorities,
when they deem it desirable, to raise loans and spend money on the
provision of suitable accommodation and officials, and for the
preparation, cooking, and serving of meals to the children
attending Public Elementary Schools.

"4. That only in extreme and exceptional cases, where it can be
shown that neither the parents' resources nor Local Voluntary Funds
are sufficient to cover the cost, and after the consent of the
Board of Education as to the necessity for such expenditure has
been obtained, a Local Authority may have recourse to the rates for
the provision of the cost of the actual food; the local rate for
this purpose to in no case exceed ½d. in the £.

"5. That the Local Education Authority should, as far as possible,
associate with itself, and encourage the continuance of, voluntary
agencies in connection with the work of feeding of children.

"6. That whatever steps may be necessary, by way of extension of
the Industrial Schools and the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Acts or otherwise, should be taken to secure that parents able to
do so and neglecting to make proper provision for the feeding of
their children shall be proceeded against for the recovery of the
cost; and that the Guardians, or where available the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and not the Local Education
Authority, be empowered to prosecute in any cases coming under the
law in respect to the neglect of parents to make proper provision
for the feeding of their children.

"7. That payment for meals, prior to the meal, whenever possible,
should be insisted upon from the parents.

"8. That it is undesirable that meals should be served in rooms
habitually used for teaching purposes, and that the Regulations of
the Board of Education should carry this recommendation into
effect.

"9. That whilst strong testimony has been placed before the
Committee to the effect that the teachers have given and are giving
admirable service in the way of supervising the provision of meals
to the children, it is the opinion of the Committee that it ought
not to be made part of the conditions attaching to the appointment
of any teacher that he (or she) shall or shall not take part in
dispensing meals provided for the children, and that the Board of
Education should carry this recommendation into effect."

FOOTNOTES:

[20] Cf. Underfed Children in Continental and American Cities (presented to Parliament, April 1906).

[21] Cf. _Report on Education_ (_Provision of Meals_) _Bill_, especially Recommendation 6, Appendix, p. 75.

[22] Cf. Appendix, p. 75.