Leaked emails reveal Clegg-Gove clash over free school meals policy

Officials have warned Nick Clegg that his plan to offer free school meals to four- to seven-year-olds risks diverting money away from teaching in a way that is "wholly unacceptable" to Michael Gove, leaked emails reveal.

In an escalation of the coalition row over the policy, correspondence handed to the BBC's World at One showed that the education secretary objected to the way the policy was costed, and warned in a letter to the Treasury that the government "must not risk forcing schools to subsidise meals by reducing their spending on teaching and learning".

A further email from a senior official, hours before the deputy prime minister was due to speak publicly about the £1bn policy, was marked "NOT CLEARED" and warned that it would cost much more than originally thought to implement.

"The gap between the deputy prime minister's figure and the Treasury funding will require our secretary of state to divert money from providing school places to meet basic need or from meeting urgent maintenance needs in schools. Both these scenarios are wholly unacceptable to this department and our secretary of state."

Around £150m extra was found to help schools prepare for the cost of providing more free school meals, with £70m coming from the Treasury and £80m from under-spending at the Department for Education.

Senior Liberal Democrat sources said claims that it would affect the basic budget for school places or maintenance were "bollocks".

"We're amazed by the Conservative campaign to attack a popular policy that will help families with their weekly budget, boost the attainment of kids and has clear health benefits," the source said.

The leaked emails come after a series of rows between people close to Gove and Clegg. Last month Dominic Cummings, a former adviser to Gove, launched a personal attack on Clegg, saying he was a revolting and self-obsessed character who cared only about his image. He also accused the Liberal Democrat leader of demanding hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money for his "latest absurd gimmick" whenever he gave a speech.

Continuing their long-running feud, Clegg said Cummings "obviously has anger-management issues" and hit back at the "slightly loopy ideologues like him" in the Tory party who wanted to impose ideological experiments on the school system.

However, the leaks about the policy costings for the free school meals plan appear to have worried the Commons education select committee, whose chairman, Graham Stuart, said there were more questions to be answered.

"We wouldn't doubt that Nick Clegg wanted to make a difference to pupils but would have both concerns about the conclusion he reached about how best to achieve it and the process by which this was brought into being," the Conservative MP said.

"The free school meals announcement was a £1bn spending commitment – as Nick Clegg emphasised – just in the first two years when the finances remain tight, when we have £53bn a year going out just in interest and I think in those circumstances it's clear the department was right to try to ensure that public money was spent as effectively as possible on what matters most."

The letters handed to the BBC's World at One

Letter from Michael Gove to Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury

29 November 2013

"I am currently over-committed on capital in 2014-15 by around £400 million … However, now that my officials have had time to fully analyse this policy, it is clear that it cannot be delivered for less than £449m in 2014-15 and £635m in 2015-16. I am sure that you will agree with me that we must not risk forcing schools to subsidise meals by reducing their spending on teaching and learning. I would be grateful for your assurance that my budget will be increased to fully cover the cost of this new commitment, as I am unable to fill any shortfall from within my existing budget."

Email from a senior official at the Department for Education to private offices of Nick Clegg, David Laws and George Osborne and to the Cabinet Office

09:50 4 December 2013

Subject: FSM capital announcement not cleared

"First, the £150m is less than the £200m we believe will actually be required to deliver this policy. Second, more importantly, the gap between the deputy prime minister's figure and the Treasury funding will require our secretary of state to divert money from providing school places to meet basic need or from meeting urgent maintenance needs in schools. Both these scenarios are wholly unacceptable to this department and our secretary of state."

Email from a senior official at the Department for Education to various senior officials, including in the Treasury

4 December 2013

"I am concerned that there is a risk that the deputy prime minister and others are about to make public statements that suggest that the additional £80m for free school meals capital can be found from within the department's budget without an impact on other education capital budgets – firstly, because this is not true; and secondly, because it will be relatively easy for people outside the department to see that it is not true."