Please note this is an automatically generated email.

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• If you have made a request for official information, it will be managed
in accordance with the provisions of the Official Information Act.

Dear Harwood

 

Thank you for your email in which you submitted an Official Information
Act request as follows:

 

Please provide the following on the school lunch programme:

1. Does the government consider it has delivered healthy lunches that
benefit students?

2. Does the government consider it has used sustainable packing to deliver
the lunches? i.e. recyclable or fully composable products (i.e. no plastic
lined materials)?

3. Does the government have standards or requirements that have to be met
for the school lunch programme? if so what? and if they haven't been met,
for what reason?

4. Please provide the sources of this information, i.e. packaging
materials, is this information from a supplier?

 

We received your request on Saturday 15 February 2025.  We will endeavour
to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later
than Friday 14 March 2025, being 20 working days after the day your
request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then,
we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

 

Office of Hon David Seymour

[1]A pink and Deputy Prime Minister (from 31 May 2025)
white emblem
with two women Minister for Regulation
holding flags Associate Minister of Education
Description
automatically Associate Minister of Justice
generated
Associate Minister of Finance

Associate Minister of Health

 

7.6 Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

DSOIA401

 

show quoted sections

Dear Harwood

 

We refer to your information request of 15 February 2025.

 

Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act).

 

We have determined that the information requested is more closely
connected with the functions of the Ministry of Education. As such, I
have transferred your request to the Ministry of Education in accordance
with section 14(b)(ii) of the Act.

 

You may expect a response from the Ministry of Education directly
concerning your request.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

 

Office of Hon David Seymour

[1]A pink and Deputy Prime Minister (from 31 May 2025)
white emblem
with two women Minister for Regulation
holding flags Associate Minister of Education
Description
automatically Associate Minister of Justice
generated
Associate Minister of Finance

Associate Minister of Health

 

7.6 Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

DSOIA401

 

show quoted sections

Kia ora Harwood

 

Thank you for the information request below, that was transferred to the
Ministry on 18 February 2025.  The Ministry will consider and respond to
your request in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act).

 

Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of
our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any
case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is
received. You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your request
on or before 18 March 2025. If more than 20 working days are needed due to
the potential workload and/or consultations involved in answering your
request, we will notify you accordingly.

 

The Ministry may publicly release on our website the response to your
request five days after you have received it. Any personal information
will be removed.

 

In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email
[1][email address]

 

Ngā mihi

 

Enquiries National Team | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of
Education | TW

[2]education.govt.nz

We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
[3]Te TD huhu o te MD tauranga

 

 

From: David Seymour (MIN) <[email address]>
Sent: Tuesday, 18 February 2025 3:54 pm
To: [FOI #30101 email]
Subject: Official Information request - School Lunch Waste

 

Dear Harwood

 

We refer to your information request of 15 February 2025.

 

Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act).

 

We have determined that the information requested is more closely
connected with the functions of the Ministry of Education. As such, I
have transferred your request to the Ministry of Education in accordance
with section 14(b)(ii) of the Act.

 

You may expect a response from the Ministry of Education directly
concerning your request.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

 

Office of Hon David Seymour

[4]A pink and Deputy Prime Minister (from 31 May 2025)
white emblem
with two women Minister for Regulation
holding flags Associate Minister of Education
Description
automatically Associate Minister of Justice
generated
Associate Minister of Finance

Associate Minister of Health

 

7.6 Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

DSOIA401

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe Harwood

 

Please find attached a letter regarding your request under the Official
Information Act.

  

Nāku noa, nā,

Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | AM

[1]education.govt.nz

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[2][IMG]

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe Harwood

 

Please find attached a letter regarding your request under the Official
Information Act.

  

Nāku noa, nā,

Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | AM

[1]education.govt.nz

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[2][IMG]

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe Harwood

Thank you for your query about the school lunches programme. Our focus is
to provide the 242,000 students in the programme a nutritious meal, every
school day. Measuring service levels to make sure healthy meals are tasty,
cost-effective and delivered in sustainable packaging is an important part
of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches programme.

As a whole, the programme is working well. Schools on the internal and
iwi/hapū delivery models continue to provide lunches that are well
received by students, including the use of fresh produce from their own
mara kai.

We acknowledge that there have been some challenges with the early
implementation of the School Lunch Collective (SLC) external model with
delivering lunches to 439 schools and kura across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Recent delivery from the SLC has consistently been over 99% on time to
schools, and the new menu for term two will include a variety of
nutritious meals we know students will enjoy. 

The Ministry is actively monitoring service levels, and the SLC, along
with all suppliers in the programme, is committed to listening to feedback
from schools and students to resolve challenges quickly and meet all
requirements in Services Agreements.

Your emails of 15 February 2025 to the Minister of Education, Hon Erica
Stanford, and Associate Minister of Education, Hon David Seymour, were
transferred to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) on 18 and 19
February 2025. You requested the following information, which has been
numbered for the purposes of responding:

 1. What materials are used for packaging of school lunches? i.e. PP
plastic, PET plastic, Aluminium foil, Paper, Cardboard?
 2. Are these materials recycled, composed or sent to landfill?
 3. If they are recycled or composed, please give general information on
where these are sent for processing? considering most councils do not
accept aluminium for recycling.
 4. If they are sent to landfill, how much volume is sent to landfill per
month?
 5. What other alternates have you considered for packaging that doesn't
include plastic or aluminium?
 6. Does the government consider it has delivered healthy lunches that
benefit students?
 7. Does the government consider it has used sustainable packing to
deliver the lunches? i.e. recyclable or fully composable products
(i.e. no plastic lined materials)?

8.      Does the government have standards or requirements that have to be
met for the school lunch programme? if so what? and if they haven't been
met, for what reason?

9.      Please provide the sources of this information, i.e. packaging
materials, is this information from a supplier?

Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act). We have interpreted your questions to relate to the current
school lunches programme with the SLC, who provide lunch to 125,000
students in need every school day.

The SLC has committed to a comprehensive approach to managing waste
responsibly, and supports the Ministry’s environmental goals. I am
refusing parts one, two, three, four and nine of your request under
section 18(d) of the Act, as the information is publicly available on the
SLC website at: [1]https://www.schoollunchcollective.co.nz/....

You can also find information that may be of interest to you on the SLC
website at: [2]https://www.schoollunchcollective.co.nz/....

Sustainability remains a priority for the Ministry for the school lunches
programme, and sustainability targets have not changed with the
introduction of the alternative provision model.  

All providers continue to use reusable, recyclable or certified
compostable materials wherever possible, and minimise the use of
non-recyclable packaging and single-use items. We have strengthened the
wording in all provider agreements around packaging and waste so that they
are clear as to the Ministry’s expectations.

In addition, for the SLC, pages 32 and 33 of the Services Agreement
include information regarding sustainability, waste and surplus management
that may be of interest to you. This can be found on the Ministry’s
website at:
[3]https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3f....

Please note that some of the information has been withheld under the
following sections of the Act:

o 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons.
o 9(2)(b)(ii), to protect information where the making available of the
information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial
position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the
information.

As required under section 9(1) of the Act, we have considered the public
interest in releasing the information withheld. We do not consider that
the public interest considerations favouring the release of this
information are sufficient to outweigh the need to withhold it at this
time.

Regarding part five of your request, no alternative packaging was
considered, as the packaging being used is that proposed by Compass Group
NZ as part of their registration of interest, and already met the
programme’s recyclable packaging requirements.

Regarding parts six and seven of your request, it is not a requirement
under the Act to create new information in order to respond, so we are
refusing these parts of your request under section 18(g) of the Act, as
responding would require the Ministry to form an opinion, so the
information requested is not held by the Ministry, and we have no grounds
for believing that it is either held by, or more closely related to the
functions of, another department or organisation subject to the Act.

The Services Agreement linked above also sets out the Ministry’s
expectations of delivery. Associate Minister of Education, Hon David
Seymour, voiced his support for the delivery of healthy school lunches in
his media release of 30 January 2025 on the Beehive website here:
[4]https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-....

We are refusing part eight of your request under section 18(d) of the Act,
as above, as the information is publicly available in the Services
Agreement published at the link provided above. Section 6 and Schedule 2
contain information regarding standards and requirements that the SLC must
meet.

The Ministry expects all providers, including Compass Group NZ (as the
lead for the SLC), to meet performance targets and contractual
requirements. The SLC is committed to meeting its targets, and we will
continue to work closely with them to improve delivery and support for
schools.

The Services Agreement with the SLC includes provisions for monitoring the
supplier's performance against agreed service levels. The Ministry is
actively monitoring these agreed service levels during the implementation
of the programme, and will be undertaking formal reviews to measure
delivery performance against key metrics, including timeliness, food
quality, waste management and nutrition.

Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five
working days. Your name and contact details will be removed.

You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review the decision on your
request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by
writing to [5][email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman,
PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.

Nāku noa, nā,

Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | ED

[6]education.govt.nz

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[7][IMG]

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe Harwood

Thank you for your query about the school lunches programme. Our focus is
to provide the 242,000 students in the programme a nutritious meal, every
school day. Measuring service levels to make sure healthy meals are tasty,
cost-effective and delivered in sustainable packaging is an important part
of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches programme.

As a whole, the programme is working well. Schools on the internal and
iwi/hapū delivery models continue to provide lunches that are well
received by students, including the use of fresh produce from their own
mara kai.

We acknowledge that there have been some challenges with the early
implementation of the School Lunch Collective (SLC) external model with
delivering lunches to 439 schools and kura across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Recent delivery from the SLC has consistently been over 99% on time to
schools, and the new menu for term two will include a variety of
nutritious meals we know students will enjoy. 

The Ministry is actively monitoring service levels, and the SLC, along
with all suppliers in the programme, is committed to listening to feedback
from schools and students to resolve challenges quickly and meet all
requirements in Services Agreements.

Your emails of 15 February 2025 to the Minister of Education, Hon Erica
Stanford, and Associate Minister of Education, Hon David Seymour, were
transferred to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) on 18 and 19
February 2025. You requested the following information, which has been
numbered for the purposes of responding:

 1. What materials are used for packaging of school lunches? i.e. PP
plastic, PET plastic, Aluminium foil, Paper, Cardboard?
 2. Are these materials recycled, composed or sent to landfill?
 3. If they are recycled or composed, please give general information on
where these are sent for processing? considering most councils do not
accept aluminium for recycling.
 4. If they are sent to landfill, how much volume is sent to landfill per
month?
 5. What other alternates have you considered for packaging that doesn't
include plastic or aluminium?
 6. Does the government consider it has delivered healthy lunches that
benefit students?
 7. Does the government consider it has used sustainable packing to
deliver the lunches? i.e. recyclable or fully composable products
(i.e. no plastic lined materials)?

8.      Does the government have standards or requirements that have to be
met for the school lunch programme? if so what? and if they haven't been
met, for what reason?

9.      Please provide the sources of this information, i.e. packaging
materials, is this information from a supplier?

Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act). We have interpreted your questions to relate to the current
school lunches programme with the SLC, who provide lunch to 125,000
students in need every school day.

The SLC has committed to a comprehensive approach to managing waste
responsibly, and supports the Ministry’s environmental goals. I am
refusing parts one, two, three, four and nine of your request under
section 18(d) of the Act, as the information is publicly available on the
SLC website at: [1]https://www.schoollunchcollective.co.nz/....

You can also find information that may be of interest to you on the SLC
website at: [2]https://www.schoollunchcollective.co.nz/....

Sustainability remains a priority for the Ministry for the school lunches
programme, and sustainability targets have not changed with the
introduction of the alternative provision model.  

All providers continue to use reusable, recyclable or certified
compostable materials wherever possible, and minimise the use of
non-recyclable packaging and single-use items. We have strengthened the
wording in all provider agreements around packaging and waste so that they
are clear as to the Ministry’s expectations.

In addition, for the SLC, pages 32 and 33 of the Services Agreement
include information regarding sustainability, waste and surplus management
that may be of interest to you. This can be found on the Ministry’s
website at:
[3]https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3f....

Please note that some of the information has been withheld under the
following sections of the Act:

o 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons.
o 9(2)(b)(ii), to protect information where the making available of the
information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial
position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the
information.

As required under section 9(1) of the Act, we have considered the public
interest in releasing the information withheld. We do not consider that
the public interest considerations favouring the release of this
information are sufficient to outweigh the need to withhold it at this
time.

Regarding part five of your request, no alternative packaging was
considered, as the packaging being used is that proposed by Compass Group
NZ as part of their registration of interest, and already met the
programme’s recyclable packaging requirements.

Regarding parts six and seven of your request, it is not a requirement
under the Act to create new information in order to respond, so we are
refusing these parts of your request under section 18(g) of the Act, as
responding would require the Ministry to form an opinion, so the
information requested is not held by the Ministry, and we have no grounds
for believing that it is either held by, or more closely related to the
functions of, another department or organisation subject to the Act.

The Services Agreement linked above also sets out the Ministry’s
expectations of delivery. Associate Minister of Education, Hon David
Seymour, voiced his support for the delivery of healthy school lunches in
his media release of 30 January 2025 on the Beehive website here:
[4]https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-....

We are refusing part eight of your request under section 18(d) of the Act,
as above, as the information is publicly available in the Services
Agreement published at the link provided above. Section 6 and Schedule 2
contain information regarding standards and requirements that the SLC must
meet.

The Ministry expects all providers, including Compass Group NZ (as the
lead for the SLC), to meet performance targets and contractual
requirements. The SLC is committed to meeting its targets, and we will
continue to work closely with them to improve delivery and support for
schools.

The Services Agreement with the SLC includes provisions for monitoring the
supplier's performance against agreed service levels. The Ministry is
actively monitoring these agreed service levels during the implementation
of the programme, and will be undertaking formal reviews to measure
delivery performance against key metrics, including timeliness, food
quality, waste management and nutrition.

Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five
working days. Your name and contact details will be removed.

You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review the decision on your
request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by
writing to [5][email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman,
PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.

Nāku noa, nā,

Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | ED

[6]education.govt.nz

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[7][IMG]

 

show quoted sections