HL Deb 03 December 1986 vol 482 cc815-7

2.42 p.m.

Viscount Mersey

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have noted the recent experiment in the U.S.A. in which 800,000 school children were given wholesome as opposed to junk food, and whether they plan to introduce more wholesome food to the schools of the United Kingdom.

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I have read the accounts with interest. Any study claiming results as dramatic as those reported needs to be looked at carefully, and officials at the Department of Health and Social Security have requested details of the experiment which they will review with the help of their expert advisers. Responsibility for providing the school meals service rests on the local education authorities, not the Government. I have no doubt, however, that they will want to follow any advice given by the DHSS and the good dietary practices recommended by recent reports.

Viscount Mersey

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. Is it not the case that highly refined food with additives makes children more aggressive and also less willing to learn? Can she tell me in particular why the common agricultural policy favours white bread as opposed to wholemeal bread and ice-cream as opposed to a sensible skimmed milk pudding?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, we are already aware of the problems to health caused by high fat, high sugar and low fibre diets. More recently, many local education authorities have sought to produce food with reduced additives, colouring and preservatives. However, well conducted studies of the effect of diet, including additives, on aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity in children have not suggested that diet is generally an important factor. So far as the common agricultural policy is concerned, it may be blamed for many things but I do not think it could be accused of doing away with a sensible skimmed milk pudding.

Lord Avebury

My Lords, can the Minister say how many local education authorities have ceased to provide school meals altogether? Also, will the Department of Education and Science undertake a large-scale epidemiological study of the health of school children in local education authority areas where school meals are and are not provided, respectively, bearing in mind that when there is no food available on the premises the likelihood is that the children will go out to buy junk food from the shops in the neighbourhood?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I am assured always that there is no such thing as bad food; there is only bad diet. Local education authorities are increasingly introducing healthy eating campaigns in their school meals service, providing higher fibre and lower fat meals and seeking out manufacturers who provide ingredients with lower sugar content and fewer additives. In many cases these are popular with children, but schools and parents need to educate their children to sensible dietary choice.

Lord Mottistone

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the so-called junk food in this country is wholesome because of very good food Acts which have made sure that that is the case? Is she also aware that the experiment referred to is highly doubtful because there was no comparison test? Furthermore, is she aware that the suggestion that various forms of additives cause aggression in children is also highly questionable and that these points really need to be borne in mind?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I said in my original response that the claims made by the study which took place in the United States are being studied very carefully and further details have been asked for. I agree with my noble friend that all food is good so long as the diet is right and sufficiently varied.

Lord Leatherland

My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether she recalls that this Question uses the expression "junk food"? Can she tell us what junk food is, so that I may tell my wife and then she will not give me any?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I hesitate to define what is essentially an American-English expression. All I can say is that I am assured that there is no such thing as junk food or bad food. Only the diet may be bad.

Baroness Lane-Fox

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that although diet is of top importance, so too is sensible exercise? As today many children who watch television have a better understanding of how the body works, now is the time to catch their interest and win their co-operation to reduce future orthopaedic and other conditions later in life.

Baroness Hooper

Yes, my Lords. I agree entirely that a balanced approach to this topic is as important as a balanced diet. There is now a much more productive liaison among school meals staff, teachers of home economics, biology, physical education, and so on, and community dieticians towards helping children choose a more balanced diet and a more sensible way of life.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, I wonder whether I may take the Minister back to the Question and to the research on Institutional Behaviour and Nutritional Policy by Dr. Stephen Schoenthaler, to which the noble Viscount referred. I am delighted that she has read what I think is an extremely important study. May I ask whether she gleaned from it not only that there is a close link between good diet and good health, but that there is a real link between a good diet and a decrease in anti-social behaviour and also the increase—

Noble Lords

Reading!

Lord Ennals

My Lords, I was asking the Minister whether she accepted that the study showed not only that there was a very clear link between a good diet and good health, but also in relation to both behavioural patterns and academic performance. In view of the concerns—

Noble Lords

Speech!

Lord Ennals

—on both those issues, does she agree that it would be helpful to have a Statement when the Minister is ready?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, copies of the preliminary account of the study to which the noble Lord referred were received only at the end of November. As I said, the information in the study, and in particular its methodology, requires a good deal more study before judgments can be made about either the accuracy of the report itself or its relevance to schools in this country. But I will inform the House, and the noble Lord in particular, of something of which he may already be aware; that is, the preliminary report of a nutritional analysis of a nationwide dietary survey of British school children, which was recently published by the Department of Health and Social Security and which covers a wide range of topics.

Lord Wallace of Coslany

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that economy measures by some local education authorities have led to a very inferior diet? Would it be possible for the Government to lay down a standard, with model rules?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, this topic is in the hands of local education authorities, although the Government are always prepared to advise.

Baroness Fisher of Rednal

My Lords, can the noble Baroness tell us how local authorities are able to use their influence when school meals services have been privatised? The noble Baroness has mentioned local authorities on several occasions. But when school meals are privatized, how does such information reach the private contractor?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I feel that that is somewhat outside the terms of the original Question. Nevertheless, DHSS catering guidance to hospitals and local authorities is also used by many private caterers.

Baroness Ewart-Biggs

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the British Society for Nutritional Medicine plans to continue research started in the United States concerning the effects of nutrition on children? Will the Government consider supporting that work?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the Government are following with interest the work being done in this area, but they are also conducting their own researches. As I said, there is a preliminary report of findings already available which will be followed up.