Recommendation 13

The Catholic Education Service wrote to tell us that families in remote, isolated communities struggled to find an appropriate shop from which to purchase food, due to the limited number of supermarket chains taking part in the scheme.23 In its written evidence, the National Association of Head Teachers said that parents had difficulty using participating supermarkets that were most suited to their needs, saying that some had to use public transport to reach supermarkets and that this did not offer the best value for money.24 We also received written evidence from Truro and Penrith Academy Trust, saying that in their rural part of Cornwall there were no nearby supermarkets, that many families did not have their own transport, and that there was a very limited bus service. The vouchers could only be used in large supermarket chains and not in the local, accessible shops in that part of the country.25