Concerns raised over school meals as Children's Food Trust loses funding
Katy Morton
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Fears have been raised that school food standards will slide as the Children's Food Trust, which monitors the quality of meals in schools, sees its Government funding come to an end next month.
A letter issued by the Department for Education on Friday (25 January) confirmed that the Children’s Food Trust grant funding used for ‘core’ school food improvement and support work will end on 31 March, as planned.
The Children’s Food Trust, which has been operating as an independent charity since October 2011, will now be invited to bid for Government contracts.
While the Children’s Food Trust says it will continue to offer ‘on-the-ground’ advice and support for schools and parents on legislation and best practice around delivering good food, the charity has revealed it will no longer be able to carry out its annual national survey of school food services and take-up of school meals in England.
The Children’s Food Trust survey is the only data to track how school meals are improving and their take-up.
A Children’s Food Trust spokesperson said, ‘With clear research on the impact of better food for children’s performance at school, obesity levels continuing to rise and more families falling into poverty, there can be no doubt that schools have never been more in need of strong leadership and practical support for making sure every child can eat well during their day at school. While the Government’s review of school food continues, we’ve urged the department not to allow school food improvement work to slip back in the meantime, and this does remain a concern.’
The Children’s Food Campaign has also expressed concern at the potential loss of the annual survey of schools meals, calling it a ‘worrying development’.
Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said, ‘It’s very important that parents and others get the information they need on school nutrition, and this is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Due to the difficult economic situation, some schools do not feel able to allocate part of their budget to pay for external nutritional assessment of their school lunches.
‘Proper national monitoring of standards has also become even more important now academies and free schools are no longer required to meet the school food nutritional standards. It doesn’t take much for nutritional standards to slip, but it can take a long time to get them back again.’
Mr Clark went on to say that he hoped the examination of school food across the country, being carried out by the co-founders of the restaurant chain Leon, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, who will subsequently create an action plan, will come up with alternative ways of monitoring the standard of school meals.
The Local Government Association (LGA) also this month warned that more than one million children attending independently-run free schools or academies could be eating poor quality meals because of an exemption in legislation.
To ensure every child receives a nutritious school lunch, the LGA is urging the Government to introduce one single food standard applicable to all schools.
The Children’s Food Trust, which has been operating as an independent charity since October 2011, will now be invited to bid for Government contracts.
While the Children’s Food Trust says it will continue to offer ‘on-the-ground’ advice and support for schools and parents on legislation and best practice around delivering good food, the charity has revealed it will no longer be able to carry out its annual national survey of school food services and take-up of school meals in England.
The Children’s Food Trust survey is the only data to track how school meals are improving and their take-up.
A Children’s Food Trust spokesperson said, ‘With clear research on the impact of better food for children’s performance at school, obesity levels continuing to rise and more families falling into poverty, there can be no doubt that schools have never been more in need of strong leadership and practical support for making sure every child can eat well during their day at school. While the Government’s review of school food continues, we’ve urged the department not to allow school food improvement work to slip back in the meantime, and this does remain a concern.’
The Children’s Food Campaign has also expressed concern at the potential loss of the annual survey of schools meals, calling it a ‘worrying development’.
Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said, ‘It’s very important that parents and others get the information they need on school nutrition, and this is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Due to the difficult economic situation, some schools do not feel able to allocate part of their budget to pay for external nutritional assessment of their school lunches.
‘Proper national monitoring of standards has also become even more important now academies and free schools are no longer required to meet the school food nutritional standards. It doesn’t take much for nutritional standards to slip, but it can take a long time to get them back again.’
Mr Clark went on to say that he hoped the examination of school food across the country, being carried out by the co-founders of the restaurant chain Leon, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, who will subsequently create an action plan, will come up with alternative ways of monitoring the standard of school meals.
The Local Government Association (LGA) also this month warned that more than one million children attending independently-run free schools or academies could be eating poor quality meals because of an exemption in legislation.
To ensure every child receives a nutritious school lunch, the LGA is urging the Government to introduce one single food standard applicable to all schools.
