PLANS have been drawn up by Caerphilly borough council which could mean parents being charged if their children take sandwiches into school, according to Plaid Cymru.

Caerphilly council has said the scheme is being consulted on with head teachers, but there is 'no intention' that any financial impact would be passed onto parents.

But Plaid Cymru claim 75 primary schools could be charged a total of £174,000 — around £2,200 per school.

The fee will be based on sandwich take up at each school and if schools cannot pay their share, it could be passed onto parents, Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru’s Caerphilly assembly candidate, said on Friday.

The proposal is said to be to cover the cost of council staff setting up and clearing up in school canteens after pupils who take sandwiches have finished eating.

Mr Whittle said: "School budgets are already under pressure, so it seems likely that this charge will be passed on to parents by many schools or pupils even banned from bringing lunches in.

"Schools and parents should not be penalised, this is a daft idea and should be abandoned now – we’ve had the Tories’ bedroom tax and pasty tax, now the Labour-run council wants to impose the sandwich tax. It’s not on."

A Caerphilly County Borough Council spokesman said the plan is “one of a number of proposals” put forward for consideration as the council looks to make excess of £9million savings for 2016/17.

He added: “In setting the budget for 2016/17, the council has made a commitment to meeting the schools pledge, which will in fact see an additional cash growth of £1.9m for county borough schools.

"Indeed, throughout the council’s budget setting process, schools continue to be the most protected service area financially."

He added: “Extensive consultation on this proposal has been conducted with head teachers and there is certainly no intention that any financial impact would be passed onto parents, or that the service would cease to be provided by schools”.

The council’s budget for 2016/17 will be agreed at council meeting on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

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UPDATE

Saturday February 13, 9.11am: 

Caerphilly council’s cabinet member for education and lifelong learning Rhianon Passmore said this morning: "We approach the silly season with the Assembly election looming and yet another deliberately misleading story from Plaid Cymru.

“This nonsense is disingenuous and misleading at best. Sadly such claims will undoubtedly cause extra worry and stress for hard pressed parents and their children. This is wrong.

“In a period of severe cuts to local government Caerphilly is looking to make £9 million worth of savings for 2016/17.

“However Caerphilly schools are the most protected area financially in the authority and will be receiving an extra £1.9 million via the Schools pledge. It is concerning that a regional list Assembly member has decided to make such futile claims at this time off the back of our own school children.”