WEST DORSET: The free school meals policy has been a success for Dorset despite issues with one of the suppliers, the head of a local food company has said.

Caroline Morgan, chief executive of West Dorset-based Local Food Links, spoke a week after the national policy was rolled out in schools offering free meals to youngsters in Reception classes, Year One and Year Two.

Local Food Links has more than doubled the meals it provides per day, from 500 to more than 1,000, and the company and schools have employed more staff to cope with the demand, creating more jobs in the county.

It is not related to Chart-wells, the catering company at centre of a row, after it failed to deliver meals forcing some headteachers to buy sandwiches and pizzas for children.

The company held a crisis meeting with council chiefs last week to find a way forward.

It emerged that a fire at Chartwells’ kitchen in Ferndown lay at the root of the problem but they had not notified the county council before the roll-out of school meals began.

However, Mrs Morgan said the majority of schools in south and west Dorset had enjoyed a top class service.

She said: “A lot of people worked very hard to make sure it did all happen on time.

“I think there are particular benefits for Dorset because we lost school meals for such a long time.

“Nationally the take up last year was 45 per cent, but in Dorset that was 25 per cent.

“The culture really disappeared so I’m delighted to see people embracing it now.”

Mrs Morgan added: “I understand that under the previous policy parents who go back to work lose some entitlements, and that included free school meals.

“If you have several children, that adds up to a lot of money. Now with the universal policy, that is not affected.”

Concerns were raised at the start of term that schools and caterers would not be ready for the roll-out, as reported in the Bridport and Lyme Regis News’ sister paper the Dorset Echo.

Mrs Morgan said: “The government did not give us much notice and I do not think the county council were particularly proactive in disseminating the information to schools.

“But we did everything we could.”

The government allocated a pot of £883,430 for Dorset County Council to buy equipment for schools, including ovens, food servers and fridges.