GWL/REF (01603) 222039

Dear Headteacher,

For many years all schools on a manual basis have completed a weekly catering return. This return has provided the means to ensure that meal numbers, free and paid, agree with the payments made to the caterer, Norfolk County Services, and that income banked by the school, into the County Fund bank account, can be reconciled to the number of meals supplied.

Recent changes brought about by Fair funding now give schools the opportunity to take full responsibility to providing a meals service. If schools decide to take this responsibility, school meal income is banked into the school’s specific LM bank account or directly into the contractor’s bank account. As a further consequence, County Hall no longer requires the Weekly School Catering Return E20, in its current format.

Since April 2000, a replacement catering return has been piloted with those schools that have taken delegated responsibility for school meals. This return, a spreadsheet in Excel format, enables the school to record the numbers of paid/free meals and cash banked on a daily/weekly/termly basis. The completed spreadsheet is then sent to County Hall on a computer disk at the end of each term.

The spreadsheet provides information for LEA budget planning and monitoring and provides data to enable school meal resources to be distributed as part of the school’s budget share; the distribution of school meal resources is based on data appertaining to the previous full academic year. The pilot has been a success with only a few minor changes required to the spreadsheet and schools will now make use of it on a regular basis.

As a further step in reducing the amount of paper generated and handled, and to make use of the technology that is now widely available, I enclose a spreadsheet for your use. It replaces both the Weekly School Catering Return E20 (CON/PCC) and (FCC) pads, one of which was sent to you each year depending on which meal system operates at the school: CONventional fixed price (or mini-choice), Part Cash Cafeteria or Full Cash Cafeteria

The spreadsheet is almost an exact copy of the E20 form and makes use of basic Excel functions; e.g. it will add up rows and columns of data, dates can be set up in advance. Moving away from a weekly paper-based system to a disk once a term and a signed paper summary will save valuable clerical time in school and reduce the "paper" chase.

The spreadsheet design is very simple. Notes are contained on a separate sheet, within the spreadsheet, to assist completion. A typical example for a single week is attached for information.

A copy of the completed spreadsheet, on computer disk, together with a printed copy of the Catering Return Summary signed by you, the headteacher, should be sent at the end of each term to:

It is important to remember to record data on a regular basis and to ensure that cash/cheques are banked at least once a week.

I hope you will find the transfer to a spreadsheet a smooth one, but should you require any help or clarification please do not hesitate to give Tony Howard or me a call.

Yours sincerely

Gary Lloyd

Head of Site Services