Officials urged exclusion of school lunch supplier over billing breaches and safety failings

A newly released memo reveals that Libelle was found to have billed the ministry for lunches it had not delivered.

Thu, 03 Jul 2025

The Ministry of Education has released a damning internal memo outlining serious concerns about school lunch suppliers Libelle and Compass, after the Ombudsman ruled it was not entitled to withhold the information.The previously heavily redacted memo reveals officials attempted to formally exclude the suppliers from the procurement process, citing serious concerns about billing misconduct, food safety failures and reputational risk. But the Ministry of Education pressed ahead with awarding them the contract anyway. The September 2024...

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