File photo. The free school programme, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, looks to be one of those affected by time-limited funding while a review of its efficiency is done. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
The free school lunches programme looks set to be allocated time-limited funding by the Coalition.
It's an approach to funding that the government has spent months criticising Labour over.
On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ all Budget programmes would be fully-funded over four years.
"What we're focused on is delivering a Budget at the end of May where we are very transparent and very up front about our investment, so there is certainty about those programmes that we are supporting that they're fully funded," Luxon said.
But by Tuesday morning he had walked back that statement, telling Morning Report, "there will be the odd incident where we're actually putting more money into a programme where we're testing or wanting to see the results before we follow it up with more".
He said there would be a "handful of things where there might be time-limited funding, but again we'll be transparent about that".
Luxon disagreed a handful of programmes with time-limited funding could also be described as a handful of fiscal cliffs - the name his government has given to programmes under the previous government that hadn't been funded beyond this year's Budget.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said there would be a "handful of things" where there might be time-limited funding. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Finance Minister Nicola Willis explained the two types of funding that her Budget on 30 May will include.
"We will be ensuring that wherever there is funding it is either for the long-term, or, if it is not for the long-term that we have reviews of that funding to make sure that we're making good decisions for the future."
The free school lunches programme, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, looks to be one of those affected by time-limited funding while a review of its efficiency is done.
The Coalition has been forthright in its attack of the previous Labour government's fiscal cliffs in a number of areas, including free school lunches.
The opposition has responded by saying it had allowed for future funding in its fiscal plan released ahead of the election.
A review of Ka Ora, Ka Ako, is being carried out by associate education minister David Seymour, who told Checkpoint in April funding for the programme could be cut by up to half.
He said 10,000 lunches were wasted each day and there was no hard evidence the programme, which cost about $325 million annually, improved school attendance or achievement.
The prime minister says free school lunches will continue, as campaigned on by National at last year's election, but with some changes to make it more efficient.
"We believe in the programme. We are now funding the programme, but we want to make sure that it's been effective.
"That's quite a good question to ask a few years down the road as the programme's got bigger and as we have made a big commitment to fund it - to make sure we're getting a return on it," Luxon said.
Labour launched a campaign and petition in March to save the programme.
