School Meals

HC Deb 27 May 2004 vol 421 cc1703-6

8. Mr. David Kidney (Stafford) (Lab)

What action his Department takes to enforce its minimum nutritional standards for school meals. [175996]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Stephen Twigg)

Local education authorities have a duty to provide school meals that meet statutory nutritional standards. Where a school has a delegated budget for meals, this duty becomes the responsibility of the governing body.

The Department for Education and Skills and the Food Standards Agency are jointly funding an evaluation of nutritional standards in 80 secondary schools. That will be published later this year and we will consider the findings carefully, together with the Select Committee report on obesity published today.

Mr. Kidney

Is my hon. Friend aware of my ten-minute Bill next month on food in schools? Does he agree that today's report by the Health Committee gives much added significance to the subject? Does he accept, on behalf of his Department, the central theme of that Bill—that every school should have a food policy, dealing with school meals and the contents of the children's lunch boxes and the vending machines—and that Ofsted should enforce those policies by inspecting and disseminating good practice, so that we embed good attitudes towards food throughout society?

Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire) (Con)

Goodbye Mr. Chips.

Mr. Twigg

I welcome my hon. Friend's ten-minute Bill, which I was aware of. We are in discussions with Ofsted on the role that it can play, both with regard to the nutritional value of food in schools and, more generally, in addressing the need for healthy schools. I accept that today's report makes an important contribution to cross-Government work in tackling that significant problem.

Mr. Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)

Prohibiting chips in schools will encourage youngsters to go out and get them from other sources. Today's newspapers say that some schools are being forced to provide meals for 35p a head. That encourages the chip culture rather than moving us away from it. Should we not ensure that the resources are right for the provision of school meals so that youngsters have a choice? We also need to educate youngsters so that they value what they eat. Clearly, the implication is not simply that we are becoming a nation of Mr. Blobbies, but that later in life those children could get diseases, such as diabetes, which is on the increase, unless they eat properly.

Mr. Twigg

I agree, although the expression "Goodbye Mr. Chips" came from a Conservative Back Bencher rather than anyone on the Labour Benches.

We must provide a balance and choice in what is available in schools. There are good examples of schools that provide a good, healthy range, even with limited resources. We are working with the Food Standards Agency to evaluate those 80 schools. The report will be published within the next two months, when we will consider how to take it forward. I especially agree with the hon. Gentleman that the school curriculum is just as important as the meals that the school provides. We want to take that forward as well.

Mr. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)

Does my hon. Friend remember that, three years ago, the Education Committee published a report—the first under my chairmanship—on school meals? Ministers, like my hon. Friend, made nice-sounding statements in the Question Time that followed the report's publication, but very little was done. Is the excellent report by the Health Committee a wake-up call? The relationship between education and health is vital. It is not just about what kids eat at lunchtime but about where education sits in terms of teaching kids about the relationship between what they eat, how they exercise—hopefully, by walking to school—and their future prosperity.

Mr. Twigg

Absolutely. I assure my hon. Friend that I never forget any of his Committee's reports, and I am sure that none of my colleagues in the ministerial team would do so, even those that were published before we joined the Department.

My hon. Friend is right. The report is a wake-up call across Government. An important part of it deals with physical education and sport. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, we are investing significant amounts to achieve the target of a minimum of two hours physical education and sport in our schools.

It is an indictment that we have not got to that point, but we are progressing.

We also need to ensure that the message about healthy food and healthy living spreads throughout the school ethos and the curriculum. That is why, as the Secretary of State said late last year, we will be publishing a healthy eating blueprint later this year.

Mr. Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (Con)

Does the Minister agree that providing healthy, nutritional food options is only part of the pattern, and that schoolchildren at the moment are receiving many mixed signals? Will he review the extent to which some of the companies responsible for the least healthy food options are able to sponsor school activities and put in place vending machines that encourage children to go for the worst food options, not the best?

Mr. Twigg

That is one issue that we are considering as part of the "food in schools" work with the Department of Health. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we do not want sponsorship that encourages unhealthy activity, but we want to take a sensible approach to sponsorship; for example, we want to encourage the provision of drinking water in schools, and the water companies are among the sponsors of many of those initiatives. We seek to get the balance right.

Vera Baird (Redcar) (Lab)

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is critical that nutritious meals reach the poorest children, and that it continues to be a terrible pity that about 200,000 children entitled to free school meals do not claim them? According to research by the Child Poverty Action Group that is, as ever, due to the fear of stigma. Does he have any new plans to deal with that old and seemingly intractable problem?

Mr. Twigg

I am aware of that problem and I have been in discussion with CPAG about the work needed to ensure that free schools meals are taken up. I cannot set out a specific plan of action today, but I assure my hon and learned Friend that, in considering her point, I will look at whether further work can be done on this specific issue as part of the broader work on healthy eating that I mentioned before.