SCHOOL meals will improve after being outsourced as part of a massive £550m contract announced yesterday, a council boss insisted last night.

Oxfordshire County Council said private firm Carillion will run the service as part of the first deal of its kind in the UK.

It includes 14 already outsourced contracts and two in-house contracts, the Food with Thought primary school meals service and Quest Cleaning Services.

Director for environment Huw Jones said Carillion had to “not only to match but to significantly improve school meals”.

Although the six-year-old service made a £900,000 surplus in 2011, the council fears that schools could pull out, putting it at risk.

The contract will last 10 years and save £550,000 a year, the cash-strapped Conservative council said.

Other services to be affected from the summer include property, facilities and energy management.

Unison branch secretary Peter Fryer said the move would protect jobs for 10 years.