Ed Balls invites local authorities to bid for money for universal free school meals pilots

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Last week, the secretary of state for children, schools and families, Ed Balls, announced that the DCSF was inviting all local authorities to bid for money to finance new universal free school meals pilots.

The DCSF website says:

“Free school meal pilots are already running in three local authorities – Durham and Newham and Wolverhampton. Durham and Newham are trialling universal free school meals for all primary age children and Wolverhampton are trialling extended eligibility. Although the pilots only started in September 2009 there has already been some very positive feedback. Adding new pilots from September 2010 will help even more families across the country and allow the government to collect more evidence on the health and educational benefits of free school meals.”

Ed Balls remarked:

“We know good health is vital if children are going to enjoy their childhood and achieve their full potential. Eating a nutritious meal at lunchtime from a young age can make eating well a healthy habit for life. Our commitment to invest a further £35 million in these additional universal free school meals pilots will mean thousands of children and their parents will feel the benefit from September. I’d like to thank everyone in Durham, Newham and Wolverhampton who are already making the pilots such a success for families in their areas. I’m delighted that we’re now in a position to offer other local authorities the chance to get on board and help us all to understand the positive impact a healthy school meal can have for children.”

Chair of the School Food Trust board, Rob Rees said:

“We are delighted that every region is to have a universal free school meals pilot, extending the benefits of healthier school lunches to so many more children. Nutritious, tasty school lunches have an important part to play in improving children’s health, wellbeing, performance and in tackling poverty – issues at the heart of the agenda for so many local authorities. We very much look forward to working with the new pilots as they roll out.”

In Islington, where I am a council candidate, Labour successfully passed universal free school meals for primary school children in last year’s budget – from opposition. It is proving a very popular policy amongst parents, and has been shown to improve children’s health, concentration, behaviour and overall ability to learn by a study by the University of Hull.

In my interview with Ed Balls last month, he said:

“There are times when it’s important for us to say that we will do more for those who need more help, but there are also times for us to say that a universal welfare state is part of our offer, part of what we believe in. With school meals, the impact and the benefits you can get are really important – whether you’re on a high or a low income as a family. So there’s a real case for universal free school meals.There’s a real case for universal free school meals. Bang the drum loud in Islington, because it’s a really good policy.”

Left Foot Forward are also championing the policy in their Progressive Manifesto series.