High Peak Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has confirmed that the Coalition Government is making free school meals available for all infant school children and disadvantaged college students from September 2014.

The policy, announced at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in September, is confirmed in the Government's Autumn Statement.

As part of the Autumn Statement funding of £450m in 2014-15 and £635m in 2015-16 will be made available to the Department for Education to fund this commitment. This is new money into the Department for Education's budget. We are also making £150m of capital available to ensure that schools can build new kitchens or increase dining capacity where necessary.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said:

"Early on I made it very clear that universal free school meals would be my personal priority in this Autumn Statement and I'm proud that we are now delivering it. From the start of the next school year, every single infant school pupil will be able to sit to down to a free school lunch.

"Every child deserves the best possible start in life, and at the same time we are doing all we can to help ease the pressure on household budgets. This not only encourages positive eating habits and helps improve concentration and performance in the classroom, but this will also mean significant savings for families.

"Providing universal free school meals will help give every child the future they deserve, building a stronger economy and a fairer society."

The Facts

School Food Plan:

Universal free school meals for primary school pupils were a key recommendation in a recent review of school food produced independently for the Department for Education. The School Food Plan, published by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent in July this year, recommended that the Government embark on a phased roll out of free school meals for all children in all primary schools. The School Food Plan presented evidence that this would lead to positive improvements in health, attainment and social cohesion, and help families with the cost of living:

· The average school meal costs £437 per child per year

· Many children on low incomes are not eligible for free school meals - approximately four in 10 children who are living in poverty

Attainment (in pilot areas):

· The students were found to be on average two months ahead of their peers elsewhere.

· Around 2% more children reached target levels in Maths and English at Key Stage 1; while at Key Stage 2 the impact on achievement of between 3% and 5% was a bigger improvement than the 3.6% boost that followed the introduction of a compulsory literacy hour in 1998.

· Academic improvements were most marked among children from less affluent families.

Health (in pilot areas):

· There is a real need to address health problems that are linked to a poor diet - almost 20% of children are obese by the time they leave primary school.

· We need to address this problem from a very young age, evidence clearly shows that childhood eating habits stay with you for life.

· A common misconception is that a packed lunch is healthier than a school meal. In fact only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food.

· Pilots in Newham and Durham showed a 23% increase in the number of children eating vegetables at lunch and an 18% drop in crisps.

Easing the pressure on household budgets

· Extending free school meals to all infant school pupils will help ease the pressure on family budgets - the average school meal costs £437, meaning a significant saving to parents.

· Universal provision for children up to seven would also ensure that those on low incomes but not eligible for FSM receive a hot meal - there are around 700,000 children (from all age groups) living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.

Better for all children

Feed back from the pilots also suggested that the provision of free school meals to all children helped to create a sense of cohesion within the school. There are a number of ways in which free schools meals for all could contribute to this:

· it would remove concerns of stigmatisation of children who receive free school meals because of their parents financial situation - research has shown that some children do not currently claim a free lunch because of teasing, bullying or fear of stigma

· a nutritious lunch improves concentration, which in turn has a positive impact on classroom behaviour

· it changes the culture of a division between those children who eat a packed lunch separately from those eating a school meal

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