Why 2,500 Academies did not Sign Up for the Healthy School Meal Standards

Although the new regulation is compulsory for all schools, Local Government Association (LGA) estimates that nearly 2,500 academies did not sign up to the new healthy school meal standards.

The academies which opened from 2010 to 2014 can choose whether to follow the new regulations. According to the LGA, among the 3,896 academies which are eligible, 2,476 academies did not sign up to the new guidelines that have restrictions on providing fried and pastry-based food and drinks with too much sugar. It is also to ensure that the children will receive at least one portion of vegetables daily, as reported by Public Sector Executive.

"It is deeply worrying that hundreds of academies and free schools are yet to commit to providing healthy school meals to children, more than a year since they were first asked to sign up to new school food standards by the government.

"It's not right that we have rules for some but not all. Councils are responsible for tackling childhood obesity and poor diet as part of our public health responsibilities, which is why we want academies and free schools that opened between 2010 and 2014 to formally agree to the school meal standards that are mandatory for every other school," said Cllr Izzi Seccombe, community wellbeing spokesperson for the LGA.

The LGA is calling for rule that exempts these schools from following the regulation must be stopped to fight child obesity. A spokesperson of the Department of Education did not directly answer the LGA's call but said that the new food standards for school ensure that more pupils are eating good food that promotes healthy eating for life, BBC reported.

She also said that the new food standard makes it easier for the school cooks to create tasty, nutritious and varied menus. "Parents rightly expect every school to serve children a healthy lunch. All new academies are expected to meet the food standards, and we are pleased that more and more academies are signing up voluntarily," she added.