Fears jobs could be lost to area as West Midlands firm wins Ross-shire school meal transport contract
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A COMPANY based south of the border has been given a contract to deliver nursery school meals in Ross-shire.
The public contract tender will see the meals taken from a school kitchen to other schools in the area that do not have a kitchen.
The tender, worth around £260,000 over four years, went to Sheridan Myers, based in Aldridge in the West Midlands, specialists in the transportation of food and catering supplies.
Small businesses who previously worked on the service with Highland Council are understood to be annoyed that jobs could be lost to the area.
Procurement documents detail the requirements with packed containers being collected, adding "timely delivery is of critical importance".
The collection times are set to meet the target of serving a meal within one hour of it being packed for transport and a minimum of 15 minutes prior to serving time.
It is understood that the service was previously run by local taxi companies with some of the contracts lasting upwards of ten years.
The English company has been offering people on Facebook £18 for the daily job, that, depending on the kitchen base, lasts 45 minutes to an hour.
Anyone doing the job will need to have their own car, and provide their own fuel and insurance.
Highland Council is being quizzed over the arrangement.
One person, who did not want to be named, said: "When I saw the advert on Facebook offering £18 to take the meals from the school kitchen to the school, I was surprised. I know that the job was managed by local transport in Alness and I can not imagine taking the money out of Highlands."
He added: "Are people police checked through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)? I want to know who is picking up these meals, how are they carrying them? Are the meals safe when they get to the other schools?How can it be that we all went out of our way to support Highland Council during Covid, and they are not supporting us back."
A Highland Council spokesman said: “UK Public Sector Procurement regulations require that a Service Contract with a value in excess of £189,330 be advertised to UK as a whole, by advertising so widely, and at this value, the aim is to achieve value for money through extended competition.
"The advertised contract was part of a collaborative approach to the market with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils, Highland Council having an anticipated expenditure in the region of £260,000 over four years. In order to satisfy procurement regulations, it therefore had be advertised to the UK.
“The tender for school meals conveyancing was advertised as required by the regulations and assessed on not only cost but also quality. In this case, the winning tenderer was evaluated in accordance with procurement regulations, cost and quality criteria as stated within the tender documents and had evidenced their ability to meet the Highland Council’s requirements.
“The contract may create some sub-contracting opportunities for local businesses along with creating the potential for local employment to service the contract.”
A spokeswoman for Sheridan Meyers pointed to its record of providing the service in the Highlands for more than 15 years, and throughout the UK where it has not failed to make a delivery.
She said: "I fully appreciate that the change has caused some concern. We do have an office in Edinburgh, and as such a Scottish base, but we are a Great British company and it is a shame our head office location is an issue for some.
"We want to recruit locally to Alness, and we are still willing to speak to those people who previously offered the service to work in partnership with them. A managed service offers the best possible outcome for children who want to get their school meals.
"All our staff are police checked under the DBS scheme. And for those who have already made an agreement to provide our service in Alness - they could not be happier, as they have a secure job that means taking lunches between locations within a mile radius of each other."
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