Public health organisations welcome expansion of access to free school meals

Public health organisations have welcomed the announcement by the Government that it is expanding access to free school meals to 500,000 more children.

Sarah Muckle, The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) Co-Lead for Children and Young People, said

“Children have a right to – and benefit from – healthy, happy childhoods and key to this is access to healthy, nutritious food. We have long-since called for the expansion of access to free school meals and this is an important and welcome step in the right direction, but more needs to be done. Free and healthy school meals should be available to all children, and the Government needs to continue to tackle food poverty.

“After all, not only does access to good food help to tackle the effects of poverty and ensure that individual children are able to thrive, it also builds healthier communities, enabling whole populations to thrive.”

William Roberts, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) Chief Executive, commented:

“Access to nutritious and healthy food is a vital ingredient in any child’s development and future life chances. The Government’s announcement that it plans to expand free school meals is a very welcome step that will make a huge difference to thousands of children and parents across the country.

“As well as putting more money in the pockets of vulnerable families, wider provision of free school meals has been shown to lower the risk of childhood obesity, reduce absenteeism and boost educational attainment.”