West Sussex County Council sympathises fully with the catering staff who lost their jobs as a result of a change in the school meals contract. We very much hope Castleview will now do the decent thing and pay up.

All along, our legal advice was that it should pay for the redundancies. This was advice borne out by the tribunal's findings. If we spent taxpayers' money paying off the legal obligations of other companies, we would undoubtedly run into problems with the district auditor. Residents would also object.

The decision to cut the hot meals subsidy and switch to a cold, packed lunch service will generate essential resources for schools. The decision was taken against the background of falling demand for hot school meals, with three-quarters of children already opting to bring packed lunches from home.

-Neil Matthewson, Cabinet Member for Education and the Arts, West Sussex County Council