FURIOUS parents have slammed East Renfrewshire Council over the contents of food parcels provided to families receiving free school meals.
Images of food parcels provided to families across the leafy local authority have shown provisions that many families do not believe is enough to create five days worth of lunches.
READ MORE: Glasgow parents urged apply for school meal money during coronavirus lockdown
One parent tweeted: “Here @EastRenCouncil, any chance you could cook this into 5 lunches for a friend of mine’s child? I’ll give you £30. FYI rolls dated Monday and received on Monday . You know or just give vouchers which would have been the correct, efficient and dignified thing to do.”
Here @EastRenCouncil Any chance you could ready steady cook this into 5 lunches for a friend of mine’s child? I’ll give you £30 FYI rolls dated Monday and received on Monday . You know or just give vouchers which would have been the correct, efficient and dignified thing to do pic.twitter.com/tH6G3Xv77E
— chris boyle (@boylejchris) January 14, 2021
The image shows a pack of cherry tomatoes, 2 oranges, 1 apple, 3 small packs of cheese, 2 small packs of raisins, six rolls, udon noodles, a tin of tuna, a tin of sweetcorn, a yoghurt and a pepper.
A Mum based in Barrhead also shared photographs of her food parcel, calling the contents "insulting."
My child's #FreeSchoolMeals👇
— 🏴FIX #FreeSchoolMeals!! (@FixFreeMeals) January 12, 2021
Delivered 11/1/21.
Bread rolls expire 12/1/21.
The noodles look like plastic.
The yoghurt,mayo&cheese not cold.
From this stuff my child only eats apples, pepper, potato & tomatoes.
This is suppose to last a child for 2 weeks!@EastRenCouncil pic.twitter.com/9g51IV1GCM
The move follows the controversy surrounding food parcels distributed to families across England after images emerged on social media of contents appearing to show halved vegetables and stub of a carrot.
Marcus Rashford and Jack Monroe were among some of the famous faces condemning the food parcels and urged the UK Government and local authorities across England to bring back vouchers or cash payments.
And another one...😔 pic.twitter.com/hCCFCxC5HL
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 11, 2021
East Renfrewshire is one of the most affluent local authority areas in Scotland. 57% of it’s Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) datazones are without deprivation. It is home to just 7% of the most deprived areas. Meanwhile, nearby Glasgow City Council has 12% of SIMD datazones without deprivation and a whopping 45% in the highest.
The local authoritiy has defended the decision to hand out food parcels to the needy families.
A spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council said: “We have delivered more than 36,000 free school meal packs since lockdown first started in March 2020 and continue to work hard to ensure that our most vulnerable children have access to a range of nutritious food.
“Our food packs, which can be amended to cater for all dietary requirements, are designed to provide meals for one week and include fresh fruit and vegetables.”
Glasgow councillor, Matt Kerr, who is gunning for a Holyrood seat for the West Scotland region at this year's election condemned the move.
He said: “The fact that these food parcels are necessary at all is a sign that Scotland is failing its most vulnerable, but East Renfrewshire council have failed here. The real solution must be putting cash in people’s pockets, rather than the dehumanising insult of having to rely on handouts of stale bread.”
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