School meals take-up sees marginal increase

9th July 2009, 10:11am

The number of children now opting for school meals, in both primary and secondary schools, has increased slightly according to official statistics.

Joint figures from the Local Authority Caterers' Association (LACA) and the School Food Trust (SFT) show an increase of 0.1% to 43.9% for primary schools and 0.5% to 36% for secondary schools.

These figures relate to 2008-2009 and are compared with 2007-2008.

The statistics coincide with LACA's annual conference and chair Neil Porter described how the organisation welcomed the increases: "LACA is encouraged by the signs from the survey that children's eating habits are beginning to turn around, thanks to the hard work of schools and caterers."

Porter added there is still work to be done especially with older children whose tastes are harder to influence than their younger counterparts.

"However, we believe that we are on a longer journey when it comes to secondary school students. Increasing secondary meal take up will continue to be a challenge for all of us. We need to focus on improving partnerships with head teachers, encouraging whole school food policies and demonstrating to young people the benefits of choosing healthier food."

Prue Leith, chair of the SFT, said that introducing nutrient standards and changing the eating habits of children was always going to be a "long term project".

She said: "We now have a genuine picture of take up across the country and we can see that real progress is being made the length and breadth of England. I am absolutely delighted that three million children are eating healthy, nutritionally-balanced school food every day.

"I am heartened that take up has increased slightly in primary schools following the introduction of new nutrient-based standards and am convinced we are winning the battle for the hearts, minds and tastebuds of children and parents. It is particularly pleasing that secondary schools have turned the corner.

"This has always been a long term project which relies on the support of cooks, caterers, LAs and head teachers. We must continue to get all schools to regard children's food as an integral part of their overall education so our children will not only be healthier but, as our new research shows, will also be able to perform better."

Despite these encouraging statistics, there are some people who remain sceptical about the introduction of nutrient standards as a whole.

David Laws, Liberal Democrat spokesman for Children, Schools and Families, told the BBC: "Ministers must expect to fall woefully short of their own target to have the majority of children eating school dinners. Since the government set a target that there would be around 700,000 more children having school meals, the reality is that the take-up has actually fallen.

"The government needs to urgently address the big weaknesses in its plan - over-prescriptive nutrient standards which schools are struggling to deliver, the lack of time and facilities for sitting down to have lunch, and high prices which put off many parents."

Christine Haigh of the Children's Food Campaign said: "These figures debunk the myth that children do not want to eat the new, higher quality school meals. 

"But they do show that far too many children are not yet eating a healthy lunch. Given what we know about how unhealthy the alternatives to school lunches are, it is time every primary school child received a free school meal."

For more about the debate on schools meals and the introduction of the nutrient standards, please visit our section, which covers LACA's recent 'Nutrient Summit'.

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• 09 Jul 2009 - Get involved in National School Meals Week
• 07 Jul 2009 - Your guide to the LACA Conference & Exhibition 2009
• 03 Jun 2009 - School introduces nutrient standards 9 months early increasing take up
• 22 May 2009 - Debbie’s nutrient challenge
• 03 Apr 2009 - Looking at the future
• 03 Apr 2009 - Questions from the floor
• 03 Apr 2009 - The view from Westminster
• 03 Apr 2009 - 'Fringe' shops battle with schools for business
• 03 Apr 2009 - Do school meal standards threaten school meals service?
• 03 Apr 2009 - Are nutrient compliant menus feasible?
• 27 Mar 2009 - Do new standards threaten school meals service?
• 25 Mar 2009 - Meeting nutritional standards
• 12 Mar 2009 - Children in Scotland are shunning school meals

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