Neil Leitch, director of the Pre-school Learning Alliance's Feeding Young Imaginations campaign, said: "The government has repeatedly stated that they are committed to raising nutritional standards but this is mainly aimed at school-aged children. While our own national early years nutritional training programme has received commendation from the Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), we are yet to see any investment."
Leitch said that when approached for financial support the Department of Health has always claimed to have insufficient funds and referred his organisation to the Big Lottery Fund. However, a spokesman for Big Lottery Fund said that other than small individual grants, there is nothing available for under-fives.
Last week, a report on nursery food by organic food campaigners the Soil Association and Organix, Georgie Porgie Pudding And Pie: Exposing the Truth About Nursery Food, criticised the standards of food in many nurseries in England. It claimed three per cent were spending as little as 25p a head on food.
But Leitch told CYP Now that this was not for the want of trying on the part of providers. "We have had over 50,000 requests for nutritional guidance since we started the campaign. Many nurseries try to subsidise good nutrition but in reality it is a challenge," he said.
The Children's Plan dedicated £650m to improving nutrition in schools but makes no mention of providing similar funds for early years settings.Childcare consultant James Hempsall backed Leitch's demand for a more cohesive approach to funding. He said: "Yet again there is not a level playing field between the private, voluntary and independently run sector and maintained sectors regarding funding."
A spokeswoman for the DCSF said that Ofsted inspected all childcare settings on the legal requirement to provide "healthy, balanced and nutritious" meals. "[Inspectors] would take action if these requirements were not being met," she said.
