Schools: Nutrition

Debate between Baroness Parminter and Lord Hill of Oareford

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I am not sure that I agree with the noble Lord’s premise that eating junk food is necessarily an indicator of poverty. It is an indicator of people not being properly educated in the importance of good food and that is something that we need to look at. It can also be an indicator of a number of other things. I know from visiting academies which are dealing with some of the poorest children that they are inculcating extremely good habits of eating with pupils all sitting down together, learning and, I hope, building habits for a lifetime. The broader issue of child poverty is clearly important and the Government are working to make further progress on that.

[Baroness Parminter]

My Lords—

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[Lord Hill of Oareford]

There were two strands to the right reverend Prelate’s remarks. One was to make the point that in a school which he knows which is hoping to become an academy good work is being done to make sure that the quality of food is good, and I welcome that. On his broader point, standards clearly can play a part in helping to address the concerns that he raises. One of the things that we have discovered is that although standards are in place and the nutritional quality of food has improved, the take-up of that food by children has not increased at the same rate. So better food is available but the children are not always exercising their choice to eat it. One of the challenges for us is to make sure that children understand that eating healthy food is good for them.

[Baroness Parminter]

My Lords—

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[Baroness Parminter]

My Lords, with almost 18% of children between two and 15 growing clinically obese in the past decade, can the Minister tell the House what discussions have taken place or are planned to take place with colleagues in the Department of Health to discuss this new evidence from the Government’s own advisers on school food and children’s meals about the potential risks to the life expectancy of children and the increasing costs to the NHS, particularly in the light of the Secretary of State’s own view that the majority of secondary schools will become academies by the end of this Parliament?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I agree about the importance of my department working closely with the Department of Health. We do so. The Department of Health has recently published a new policy tackling that important issue, and we will continue to work closely with it.