WITH reference to the debate about school dinners (School Meal Price Hike Shock, The Press, July 11), I feel we should put the record straight on the funding issue.

The Labour Government has given local authorities and schools extra money to help pay for the rise in nutritional standards. The council is now receiving a targeted school meals grant of about £390,000 to develop a strategy for improving school meals. This includes money to improve the training of kitchen staff and raise the nutritional standards as well as enabling councils to fund a 7p increase in the cost of the meals.

Added to this, the schools themselves are directly receiving a school meals grant of between £1,100 and £1,400 for primary schools and £1,700 and £2,200 for secondary schools.

However, the main point here is that this is a serious issue that should have been discussed and decided upon by the elected council members and not slipped through an officer on the quiet hoping no one would notice. By altering the council's constitution so that they could pass these sort of issues on to officers, the Lib Dems were making sure that they are not involved in difficult decisions so that they can then wash their hands of them. It is the Lib Dem councillors that were elected to make decisions by the people of York and it is them who should be accountable for what the council does. There is a continual blame culture in the Lib Dem administration. They repeatedly point the figure at the Government for every single problem they encounter and ignore all the extra funding the Government gives. Time to stop spinning and take responsibility.

Coun Dave Merrett, Labour Group leader City of York Council, White House Gardens, York.