Kelly pledges £280 million for school dinners
The Government has announced a £280 million package to improve school dinners, following a visit to Downing Street by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly today said schools should spend at least 50p per child on food ingredients for school meals – an increase of 13p per child on the current guidelines.
It comes after Jamie Oliver delivered a petition to the Prime Minister to demand a radical improvement in food standards in schools.
His Feed Me Better online poll collected nearly 271,000 signatures. It was set up following the success of his Channel Four programme Jamie’s School Dinners, which saw the chef drumming up healthy meals with a limited budget.
The Conservatives have pledged to match the Government’s spending pound-for-pound, but the Liberal Democrats are concerned that the pledges are turning into a pre-election gimmick.
Under the plans, the Government will provide additional funding from September and over the next three years to provide healthy food, prepared on school premises by trained cooks following tough nutrition standards.
Local education authorities and schools will receive new funding to ensure they spend a minimum of 50p per pupil a day in primary schools and 60p per pupil per day in secondary schools.
Sixty million pounds from the Big Lottery Fund and the DfES will go towards a new School Food Trust to provide advice and support to schools and parents to help raise standards of school meals.
And the schools inspectorate Ofsted will review the quality of school meals as part of regular school inspections from September.
Ruth Kelly insisted the new package would make a real difference, saying: “Every school will now be able to spend a minimum of 50p per pupil on ingredients for school meals. This new investment will transform what is offered to children and teenagers in our schools so that high-quality healthy food is on every child’s plate.”
Speaking outside Downing Street, Mr Oliver welcomed the Government’s action: “It is certainly very positive – 20 years too late but we are talking about the right sort of money.”
“Unfortunately, it has taken a documentary and really the hearts and emotions of the kids and families we filmed to touch the nation,” he added.
But Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis said the money the Government was offering needed to continue beyond the stated three years, and he criticised the absence of a commitment to strict nutritional standards.
He also questioned the need for the new School Food Trust: “Ruth Kelly shouldn’t be wasting taxpayers’ money on a new quango to tell her about healthy eating, when sensible nutritional guidelines have already been developed by reputable bodies such as the Food Standards Agency.
“Schools need to provide well balanced meals, rich in fruit and vegetables, that are attractive to young children. That is the challenge we must meet if we are to change the eating habits of a generation.”
On Tuesday, Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said Jamie Oliver ought to be knighted for raising attention to the unhealthy foods kids eat for lunch.
Obesity in Britain kills more than 1,100 people a year, according to the Department of Health.
It is estimated at least a fifth of people in England and Wales are clinically obese, with one in 10 six-year-olds suffering the same condition.
