Poor diet is a leading cause of long-term illness and death in this country and a key reason for the more than an 18-year gap in healthy life expectancy between our most and least deprived communities. Set that within a rising epidemic of obesity with more than one in four children starting school already overweight or obese and the number growing with no sign of decline, and we have a health ticking timebomb.
What does that mean?
Children in nurseries are not guaranteed a hot midday meal because our current statutory guidance for local authorities on the provision of childcare and early education states that government funding is “not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services”. That means there are no school meals for children in nurseries (not even those from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds) while all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 attending state-funded schools in England are eligible for a free school meal (FSM). It’s not unsurprising why so many of us are tracking the Westminster City Council pilot to fund FSM in nurseries and other settings.
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