Parents facing 5pc increase in primary school dinner prices

North Yorkshire County Council announced yesterday that the cost of primary school meals will increase by five per cent during the new academic year, with prices rising by 10p to 2.10.

Senior councillors have admitted that the soaring cost of food across the globe is having a knock-on effect on North Yorkshire's own suppliers, which are responsible for providing locally sourced produce for school meals.

Among the biggest increases is in the cost of wheat after the worst drought for a century in Russia, one of the world's largest suppliers.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced a ban on the export of grain from August 15 until the end of the year after drought and fires destroyed 20 per cent of the country's wheat crop.

The announcement sent wheat prices to a 23-month high.

North Yorkshire County Council is also currently battling to contain costs across all its departments amid a predicted 25 per cent cut in Government funding which will leave a multi-million-pound shortfall in funding.

The problems have been compounded because the price of school meals across North Yorkshire, England's largest county, is considerably higher than other local authorities owing to the vast geographic area covered.

The council's executive member for children and young people's service, John Watson, said: "It is not a decision we take with any sort of glee and it is extremely regrettable.

"But there is a degree of inevitability given the financial pressures we are facing.

"Although we source the produce from within North Yorkshire wherever we can, the prices are affected by what people are having to pay for food around the world."

Nearly half of North Yorkshire's 40,000 primary school children are now having school meals, significantly above the national average and ahead of Government targets.

Coun Watson stressed that every effort would be made to continue increasing the take-up in school meals, although he admitted that the price rise could slow the trend.

The increase comes after the county council decided last summer not to impose a price rise for primary school lunches – the first time a halt had been put on annual increases for at least 20 years. Councillors admitted the decision last year was brought about by an acute awareness that households had been struggling financially during the recession.

A scheme to provide discounted prices for siblings at the same school is being continued in an attempt to help parents who are still attempting to cope in the wake of the recession.

More than 2,500 pupils are expected to benefit from the lesser charge of 1.90 for a second or subsequent child having a meal at the same school, although the price is also undergoing a 10p increase.

The county council has made great strides in recent years to ensure the vast majority of produce is sourced locally for meals served in North Yorkshire's 320 primary schools.

All meat and poultry used in the menus of North Yorkshire County Caterers - the council's school meals service - is sourced from within North Yorkshire and more than 90 per cent of all fresh food comes from the region.

However, the cost of primary school meals in North Yorkshire remains among the highest in the region.

In Hull, where free school meals were piloted for three years up until 2007, the cost is one of the lowest in the country. A meal cost only 1.20 during the last academic year.