David Seymour's confident the Government's school lunch programme will continue without issue - despite a provider going into liquidation.
Libelle Group was contracted to make about 125,000 meals each day.
Minister-in-charge David Seymour says its collapse won't cost anything extra.
He says the contract remains between the Ministry of Education and Compass.
"Any issues that may be reported in the media are between Compass and other businesses - and I don't want to sound like I'm avoiding the issue, but it is actually something that needs to be left to them."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the government's school lunch providers has gone into liquidation.
LaBelle Group made one hundred and twenty five thousand of
their meals each day. Liquidatas are now working with Compass Group,
that's the main group involved, to make sure that the
staff still get paid, the kitchens are open and the
kids get fed. The Athleader David Seymour is in charge.
High Minister.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, Ryan, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Does this mean that kids are going to go without lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
No, We've been dealing with some difficult circumstances, but our
number one priority has been what they call business continuity,
making sure that the deliveries continue to happen on time
and form.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And is it going to cost us anything extra?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Know that the contracts is between the Ministry of Education
and Compass. That's contract remains. Any issues that may be
reported in the media are between Compass and other businesses.
And really I don't want to sound like I'm avoiding
the issue, but it is actually something that needs to
be left to them.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Is this a sign that's not actually economic economically viable
to do the lunches as cheaply as you want.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
No, I'm very confident that it will continue and people
will see that it can be a success. It has
been a success. In many cases, people forget the good
news and that the good meals and the people that
are very appreciative of this program, and that's all been
done at a price. There's been some issues around supply.
I don't really want to go into it because there's
still commercial stuff going on and I don't want to
(01:30):
take sides in that. But nonetheless, you know, we're solving
problems and it's going to get even better.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Is it fair to say that this was the rotten apple,
that these guys were actually responsible for the bulk of
all the stuff that's been going wrong.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Look, I don't want to say that, because, like I say,
there's contracts between different businesses they have to work out
amongst themselves. Me jumping in and publicly taking sides is
the last thing that's needed right now.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Are you confident how the Ministry has handled this with
their due diligence. I mean there were issues raised with
Libel for going back to last year, some pretty serious
ones about delivery, about the quality, I mean all the
stuff we've been talking about this year. Did they do
enough checks and balances? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Look, I think that they did. I think, you know,
in the fullness of time, all the details will come
out and people will judge that I and frankly the
Ministry of Education have actually acted really well through this process.
What I would say is that, yes, there are criticisms
of label, there are criticisms of compass, but actually, if
you go through the whole four years of the school
lunch program under labor there were lots of criticisms, including
(02:35):
seven different food safety investigations, none of which were into
label or compass.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The problem you've got, though, is that Labour had one
hundred and fifty six supplies. Up until last year, there
one hundred and fifty six suppliers. Your cust cut cost
model only retained two of them, and now one of
them has fallen over. Doesn't look great.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, that's not true. Actually, the School Lunch Collective has
over twenty Zealand suppliers that they called together, many of
which supply through Gilmore's. If you saw the launch that
we did here at the Beehive near the middle of
the end of last year, you know we had the
names and representatives of all those different companies. So the
School Lunch Collective has always been a real showcase of
(03:17):
New Zealand food business. Rather than just two supplies, there's
actually multiple.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But what I'm saying is of the supplies, existing supplies
one hundred and fifty six the only two to be
retained with these two. That's correct, is it not?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, that's that is right and now and but no,
because you know, well what you're saying is true as
far as it goes. If you want to win that argument, congratulations,
But I just make the point that doesn't say so.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, I know, but doesn't that say something about the
people who were doing the checks and balances to make
sure this thing was actually going to fly?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, not necessarily. But again, I don't want to go
into pointing the finger at anyone to say that. I
think in the fullness of time, all the details will
come out. We practice open government and I think people
will judge that we've actually acted well here all right.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Well, we'll have to wait and see. David Semill, thank
you very much for your time. That's the act party leader.
He's the one that's been lumped with the well, it's
the thankless task of trying to feed our kids. For
more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to news talks.
It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
One of the government's school lunch providers has gone into liquidation.
LaBelle Group made one hundred and twenty five thousand of
their meals each day. Liquidatas are now working with Compass Group,
that's the main group involved, to make sure that the
staff still get paid, the kitchens are open and the
kids get fed. The Athleader David Seymour is in charge.
High Minister.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, Ryan, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Does this mean that kids are going to go without lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
No, We've been dealing with some difficult circumstances, but our
number one priority has been what they call business continuity,
making sure that the deliveries continue to happen on time
and form.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And is it going to cost us anything extra?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Know that the contracts is between the Ministry of Education
and Compass. That's contract remains. Any issues that may be
reported in the media are between Compass and other businesses.
And really I don't want to sound like I'm avoiding
the issue, but it is actually something that needs to
be left to them.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Is this a sign that's not actually economic economically viable
to do the lunches as cheaply as you want.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
No, I'm very confident that it will continue and people
will see that it can be a success. It has
been a success. In many cases, people forget the good
news and that the good meals and the people that
are very appreciative of this program, and that's all been
done at a price. There's been some issues around supply.
I don't really want to go into it because there's
still commercial stuff going on and I don't want to
(01:30):
take sides in that. But nonetheless, you know, we're solving
problems and it's going to get even better.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Is it fair to say that this was the rotten apple,
that these guys were actually responsible for the bulk of
all the stuff that's been going wrong.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Look, I don't want to say that, because, like I say,
there's contracts between different businesses they have to work out
amongst themselves. Me jumping in and publicly taking sides is
the last thing that's needed right now.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Are you confident how the Ministry has handled this with
their due diligence. I mean there were issues raised with
Libel for going back to last year, some pretty serious
ones about delivery, about the quality, I mean all the
stuff we've been talking about this year. Did they do
enough checks and balances? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Look, I think that they did. I think, you know,
in the fullness of time, all the details will come
out and people will judge that I and frankly the
Ministry of Education have actually acted really well through this process.
What I would say is that, yes, there are criticisms
of label, there are criticisms of compass, but actually, if
you go through the whole four years of the school
lunch program under labor there were lots of criticisms, including
(02:35):
seven different food safety investigations, none of which were into
label or compass.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The problem you've got, though, is that Labour had one
hundred and fifty six supplies. Up until last year, there
one hundred and fifty six suppliers. Your cust cut cost
model only retained two of them, and now one of
them has fallen over. Doesn't look great.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, that's not true. Actually, the School Lunch Collective has
over twenty Zealand suppliers that they called together, many of
which supply through Gilmore's. If you saw the launch that
we did here at the Beehive near the middle of
the end of last year, you know we had the
names and representatives of all those different companies. So the
School Lunch Collective has always been a real showcase of
(03:17):
New Zealand food business. Rather than just two supplies, there's
actually multiple.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But what I'm saying is of the supplies, existing supplies
one hundred and fifty six the only two to be
retained with these two. That's correct, is it not?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, that's that is right and now and but no,
because you know, well what you're saying is true as
far as it goes. If you want to win that argument, congratulations,
But I just make the point that doesn't say so.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, I know, but doesn't that say something about the
people who were doing the checks and balances to make
sure this thing was actually going to fly?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, not necessarily. But again, I don't want to go
into pointing the finger at anyone to say that. I
think in the fullness of time, all the details will
come out. We practice open government and I think people
will judge that we've actually acted well here all right.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Well, we'll have to wait and see. David Semill, thank
you very much for your time. That's the act party leader.
He's the one that's been lumped with the well, it's
the thankless task of trying to feed our kids. For
more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to news talks.
It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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