Hungry for Success
Section 1 THE EXPERT PANEL ON SCHOOL MEALS
Introduction
Our Remit
Related Issues
Methodology
Context of Our Work
Our Vision
Introduction
1.1 On 19 November 2001, Nicol Stephen, Deputy Minister for Education and Young People, Susan Deacon, then Minister for Health and Community Care and Jackie Baillie, then Minister for Social Justice, announced plans to improve the provision, presentation and nutritional content of school meals for all Scotland's children as part of the Scottish Executive's drive to improve the health and social wellbeing of children in Scotland.
1.2 Poor diet is a significant contributor to Scotland's poor health record. Improving children's diet can make a major impact on the health of children with beneficial outcomes for educational attainment and improved health in later life. Scotland's children also suffer one of the worst records of dental decay in the western world with only 45% of 5 year olds free from dental caries (in 1999-2000). Levels of tooth decay are strongly linked to deprivation.
1.3 The Scottish Executive has made a commitment to eradicate child poverty in a generation and recognises the association between poverty and ill health. Action is focused on closing the opportunity gap by targeting additional support where it is most needed and giving all children the best start in life.
1.4 The background to the decision to improve school meals lay in the Food in Schools Conference held in May 2001 which was supported jointly by the Scottish Executive,
The Food Standards Agency, the Scottish Consumer Council and the Health Education Board for Scotland. A significant outcome of the conference was agreement on the need for an overarching national strategy for school meals to include nutrient standards and dining facilities.
1.5 The drive for improvement included the establishment of this short-life Expert Panel to make recommendations that would form the framework of the national strategy. The Panel is chaired by Michael O'Neill, Director of Education, North Lanarkshire Council and includes representatives from a wide range of sectors and stakeholders including the Scottish Food and Health Co-ordinator, education authorities, teachers, school caterers, nutrition experts, the Health Education Board for Scotland, HM Inspectorate of Education, the Scottish Consumer Council, the Food Standards Agency, Children's Agencies and CoSLA. Membership of the Panel is shown at Annex A.
Our Remit
1.6 Our remit was to provide Ministers with costed recommendations, and a fully developed implementation and monitoring strategy to:
- establish standards for the nutritional content of school meals
- improve the presentation of school meals to improve general take-up
- eliminate any stigma attached to taking free school meals.
1.7 In considering the issues we were concerned primarily with the delivery of the school meals service in primary, secondary and special schools managed by local authorities. However, given the importance of these issues to the health of young people, we concluded that it is important that our findings should impact on the practice of all schools, not just those managed by local authorities. We hope that the independent school sector will also review their policies and practices to take our findings into account.
1.8 Our remit was to look at school meals. This report is, however, set in the national context of policy and action to improve the Scottish diet which is notoriously high in fat, salt and sugar and low in fruit and vegetables. The Scottish Executive is vigorously taking forward implementation of Eating for Health, A Diet Action Plan for Scotland. This is a wide ranging framework for the action needed across all sectors and all age groups. The need for action to influence diet from a very early age is strongly endorsed.
1.9 We limited our attention to considering the provision of school lunches within primary, secondary and special schools, covering children aged 5-18 years of age. We considered that for younger children in nursery and other pre-school settings, both the nutrient requirements and the food service issues were sufficiently different to make inclusion of younger children inappropriate.
1.10 The Health Education Board for Scotland recently produced a document Nutrition for the Under 5: Evidence into Action and are working with multi-agency partners to produce new guidance on nutrition, and informal educational activities and training for carers and service providers for the 0-3 age group. This should be produced early in 2003. There is also a great deal of work under way within NHS Trusts and through local Health Plans to increase the daily provision of fruit to the under 5s. Health services, working in partnership with services for young children, are considering the long-term health issues, of which the provision of nutritional meals is a part.
Related Issues
1.11 In the course of our work a number of related issues came to our attention that were not part of our remit. These included breakfast clubs, sponsorship activities and tuckshops. We felt it important that our findings and thoughts on these matters were also recorded. We also felt it important to take a view on the School Meals (Scotland) Bill, a Private Members Bill. Our considerations and conclusions on these related issues are set out in Section 6.
Methodology
1.12 We first met on 24 January 2002 and then six times subsequently. We also set up a sub-group to look at that part of our remit relating to the setting of nutrient standards.
1.13 The provision of a school meal with an appropriate nutrient composition is an important aspect of the school day impacting on a wide range of stakeholders. We were keen to work in an open and consultative manner involving as many of these interests as possible in our considerations.
1.14 We wrote to over 200 organisations and individuals making them aware of our work and what we were doing and we set up a school meals website with a discussion forum facility. Key papers were posted to the website. ( www.scotland.gov.uk/education/schoolmeals)
1.15 To inform and support our work we:
- carried out an audit of current practice
- commissioned a literature review from the Scottish Council for Research in Education on ways of encouraging children to select healthier food choices. (This report has not been published but has been posted to the school meals website.) It should be noted that the review was conducted at very short notice and so the breadth of material which was covered was limited
- produced an interim report for Ministers in June 2002
- consulted with key stakeholders
- considered the response to the consultation and produced this final report.
Audit of Current Practice
1.16 One of our first tasks was to find out what is currently happening across Scotland. We wrote to all education authorities seeking their help and support in undertaking a general audit of current practice. Despite a very tight timescale we received an excellent response providing us with a good foundation for our work. We would like to record our thanks and appreciation to all Directors of Education and their staff for responding so wholeheartedly.
Informal Consultations
1.17 Consultation with others formed a large part of our work. We were keen to seek and take into account the views of as many key stakeholders as possible in the time available. We did this by:
- following up the audit with visits
- running a discussion workshop for caterers.
Visits to Education Authority Areas
1.18 Our series of visits to schools allowed us to undertake a more detailed and focused audit to see for ourselves what was happening in schools. On these visits we sought the views of a wide range of people including catering staff, teachers, pupils and their parents. Again we would like to record our appreciation to the authorities and schools who participated in these visits for their time, help and hospitality. The education authorities and schools visited are shown at Annex B.
Discussion Workshop
1.19 We held a discussion workshop on 22 April with education authority catering representatives to share our emerging findings on the nutrient standards being developed. The event was very well attended with participants appreciating the opportunity to input to this important aspect of our work. Workshop participants are shown at Annex C.
Interim Report and Consultation Exercise
1.20 In June 2002 we produced an interim report for Ministers setting out our findings and recommendations. Ministers agreed that the Panel should proceed to formal consultation with key stakeholders. To ensure as wide a coverage as possible, our written consultation exercise sought the views of around 400 key stakeholders. We also offered in-depth discussions with a number of organisations and commissioned consultants to gather the views of pupils.
Written Consultation Exercise
1.21 During the consultation period of 17 July-11 October, over 200 responses were received and analysed on our behalf by the Scottish Centre for Research in Education. We were extremely pleased by the scale of response and overall support for our recommendations. The analysis of responses has been posted to our website.
In-depth Discussions
1.22 To supplement our written consultation exercise, a number of key organisations were offered an opportunity to discuss our recommendations in greater detail.
Pupil Consultation
1.23 Consultants NFO System 3 were commissioned to gather the views of pupils on relevant recommendations within our interim report. The outcome of the discussions with pupils, which has been posted to our website, was also part of our deliberations.
Context of Our Work
1.24 We recognised the importance of setting our work on school meals in the wider context of other national initiatives such as the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000, the National Priorities for Education, the establishment of the Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit, the developing Schools Estates Strategy and the European Directive on Drinking Water in Public Buildings. It was also encouraging to note that several respondents to our consultation exercise identified links between our work in the context of these initiatives and health and social justice policies. Where appropriate we have rooted our recommendations in this wider context while also taking into consideration those other measures already in place and aimed at improving the health of children, namely:
- the existing school meals service improvements across Scotland
- the whole-school and whole-child approach to improving health
- New Community Schools, which promote good health
- creation of the Food Standards Agency
- the 26m Health Improvement Fund which is prioritising provision of fruit for infants and breakfast clubs and fruit/salad bars in schools
- Scottish Healthy Choices Award Scheme promoting healthy food choices and including school catering services
- the Scottish Community Diet Project Breakfast Club toolkit
- European Network of Health Promoting Schools projects.
Our Vision
1.25 We recognise that for school meals to benefit children's health they must be of an appropriate nutrient composition. Our proposed nutrient standards are set out in Section 3. However, nutrient standards alone will not encourage more children to eat school meals. That is why we felt it important to set out a vision for a healthy future for Scotland's pupils.
1.26 Our vision is of a partnership between children/young people, school, family and the community in offering access to attractively presented food of an appropriate nutrient composition within schools and in developing a wider understanding of food, nutrition and healthy lifestyles which can inform children's choices and eating habits within and outwith school and throughout life. We believe that children/young people should not feel stigmatised at school meal times for any reason including:
- awareness by other children of additional financial support required by families/carers for the school midday meal or breakfast or out-of- school clubs
- as a result of dietary or accommodation requirements relating to religion, ethnicity or health
- additional help that may be required in accessing or eating school meals by young people with disabilities.