School Food Matters’ Evidence Submission to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Children and Families Act 2014

April 2022

School Food Matters exists to teach children about food and to improve children’s access to healthy, sustainable food during their time at school. We provide fully funded food education programmes to schools. Our experience delivering these programmes informs and strengthens our campaigns, bringing the voices of children, parents and teachers to government policy.

Summary

This submission focusses on Part 5 Section 106 of the Act, regarding the provision of free school lunches. In answer to questions one and two, we evidence the benefits of the policy so far and advocate for its expansion to see more children benefit.

Question One: To what extent has the Act improved the situation for the most vulnerable children, young people and families in England?

The eligibility criteria for means-tested free school meals (FSM) mean that two in five children under the poverty line are not entitled to FSM.[1] The catch-all Universal Infant Free School Meal Policy (UIFSM) provides support for all these children and their families, who would have otherwise missed out.

Given that most packed lunches do not meet the nutritional standards for school food,[2] providing a healthy, tasty school meal for children guarantees they have at least one decent meal each school day. The UIFSM policy has led to a significant increase in the uptake of school meals, meaning more children are seeing their benefits.[3] These benefits include improved diets, academic performance, behaviour, attendance, and reduced stigma.[4],[5],[6],[7]

The Education Policy Institute’s evaluation of UIFSM found the policy led to children being more likely to try new foods and eat fruit and vegetables, improved quality of food, and more teachers discussing healthy food in class.[8] It also saved parents on average 50 minutes and £10 each week.

Question Two: If there were to be a Children and Families Act 2022, what should it include and what might be the barriers to implementation?

A new Children and Families Act should build on the success of the UIFSM policy from 2014 by extending the eligibility criteria to more children. Children’s education is a unique setting in that children are mandated to attend by law and yet are not provided with food. As the body of evidence showing the link between diet, cognition and health grows, it seems only right that the nutrition of our young learners is guaranteed.

A long-term study of universal FSM provision in Sweden has found that those exposed to the scheme saw a 3% increase in lifetime income, compared with those who did not receive FSM.[9]

Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables is significantly associated with higher wellbeing in secondary school pupils.[10] An extension of FSM to more, older pupils could therefore lead to increased wellbeing.

Obesity rates amongst children have soared over recent years.[11] Universal provision of FSM has been associated with children being more likely to be healthy and less likely to have obesity.[12]

Universal provision of school food provides benefits to all pupils, but those from the lowest income backgrounds benefit the most.[13] As the government aims to ‘level up’ the nation, improving access to school food should be a key place to invest. For all these reasons, increasing access to FSM will generate lifelong benefits for future generations.

April 2022