West Berkshire has received £91,000 – more than any other area in the county – to provide healthier meals and keep schoolchildren off the turkey twizzlers.

The cost of raising meal costs to 50p is £18,000, while the 12 schools not covered by the council contract with Dolce will receive £2,000 each.

Tory cabinet member for schools Graham Pask said: “We’re committed to ensuring that healthy meals are available in our schools to those who want them, and we have already achieved much to ensure this. We also have to develop an efficient and effective management of the whole process as well as value for money, and that’s what the council will be looking to agree this week.”

However, the Tories face the quandary of raising the staff headcount still further, as it’s intended that a large chunk of the grant will go on hiring a school meals coordinator to ‘oversee’ the project.

This comes hard on the heels of extra taxes going on an Extended Schools Development Officer, ethnic minority support teacher, and a Management Information Systems Technician for the education department.