stockport debates contract with bet

by Gaby Huddart

The future of BET Catering Services' school meals contract with Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council hung in the balance this week, with the council set to debate and vote on the issue.

As Caterer went to press, a full council meeting was to be held at which the 63 local councillors were to decide on one of three options: to continue to work with BET; to remove a number of schools from the contract where warnings and default points have been issued; or to terminate the contract completely, more than a year before it is due to come up for retender in April 1997.

The move followed stalemate at a meeting of the council's policy and resources sub-committee at the end of December. At this meeting Labour representatives proposed dumping BET from the contract, while the Liberal Democrats wanted to work with the company to achieve improvements.

Last year BET lost 10% of its original contract with Stockport, a total of 13 schools, because of the council's concerns about food quality, portion size and hygiene standards (News, 21 September).

This was then followed by further problems when the company was linked with a salmonella outbreak at another school in November - still under investigation - and received a number of other warning notices in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

In a statement to Caterer before the meeting, BET's new marketing director, Lynette Eaborn, suggested the council's debate on the future of the contract was politically motivated.

"The decision to discuss BET's contract at the council meeting has clearly been driven by council members with a political agenda that goes beyond the service we have been providing," she said.

"We are naturally concerned, but we hope that it will highlight what we believe is a flawed monitoring system that needs to be looked at again by both sides.

"The service we provide is admitted by the council to be well above the expected standard in the majority of schools and we are continually making improvements to it. Where there have been isolated lapses, or cases of incorrect judgement by individuals, the company is making every effort possible to ensure that no such incidents are repeated," she explained.

BET won the four-year contract with Stockport Council in 1993. It is worth £4m a year in turnover.