What did the people who were deciding over it expect? A private company recieving amount of tax money for one service worth amount. It includes that. That is called profit and of course a private profit orientated company wants to max it. Since Thatcher the brits must be used to it. Look at the railways, healthcare, basically any public service that got outsourced to private investors and companies.

Instead of giving a company £30 pr child and say "Give them meals for a week" they should present a specific list of items compiled by the government. Then the lowest bidder could shop in bulk to get the price pr item lower, but every kid would get the same amount of food.

Also, the prices listed for people comparing with their shop does not account for bulk discounts, so I'm sure the actual cost of the food items are lower than the combined shelf prices.

meanwhile in cuba they d,have to wait in line for 4 hrs at least to get this amount of food and then have to share it with the rest of the family,but still the labour party wants socialism its crazy huh

It's mildly amusing, in a perverse way, that people think the problem with the government handing out "free lunches" is the fact that a private company was involved.

As if it would be so much more efficient, had these been handed out directly by bureaucrats and commissars. Just like it was in the USSR, East Germany, and currently Venezuela.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.