Education chiefs are anticipating coming in below budget after taking back charge of primary school meals.

Daphne Caine (Garff) tabled a House of Keys question about what the cost would be of transferring primary school meals back to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture, from the Department of Health and Social Care.

In a written response, Education Minister Graham Cregeen said the transfer, which included services at University College Isle of Man and the National Sports Centre, equated to £738,000 under the 2019 Budget.

He added: ’We are working to this £738,000 allocation and are currently forecasting a slight underspend against this target.’

He said £738,000 figure ’represents the transfer of the 2017-18 income, school catering staff cost and provision budgets (£553,000), in addition to this, provision for equipment replacement of £85,000 and the management team cost of £100,000’.