Commentary Schedule 9: School Travel Schemes Section 87: Power to charge for provision of meals etc
428.This section removes the current duty of local education authorities (under section 512ZA of the 1996 Act) and governing bodies (under section 533 of that Act) to charge for food and drink provided by them, and replaces it in each case with a power to charge for such provision.
429.This relaxation is intended to help those local education authorities and governing bodies who would like to provide pupils with some or all meals/drinks/refreshments, free of charge, to do so. This flexibility means that local education authorities will no longer need to apply for an order under section 2 of the 2002 Act (powers to facilitate innovation) in order to offer some free food/drink to their pupils.