Responsibility
A duty requiring LAs and governing bodies to offer paid meals, where parents required them, was introduced from April 2001.

Funding for school meals is delegated to all secondary schools.  Primary and special schools can opt for delegation.  Where a school has a delegated budget for meals, the governing body take on the responsibility for their provision.  This includes providing free school meals to pupils; providing for paid meals where requested; complying with the requirements of the nutritional standards for school lunches regulations and deciding on content and cost of meals.  Governing bodies should also ensure that meal providers are competent to deal with the various health and safety and food safety issues which arise in meal provision.

The LA or governing body must provide facilities for pupils not taking school meals, to eat meals that they bring to school.  The school cannot charge pupils for using these facilities.

Roles and Actions
Where requested, free meals must be provided for pupils whose parents receive:

• Income Support
• Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual taxable income (as assessed by The Inland Revenue) which from 6 April 2006 does not exceed £14,155

Children who receive Income Support and Income Based Job Seekers Allowance in their own right are also entitled to free school meals.  Nursery age pupils, otherwise eligible to receive free or paid for lunches, must be receiving education both before and after the lunch period.

From 6 April 2005, children whose parents receive Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or Child Tax Credit (provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit) and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue, that does not exceed £14,155 will be entitled to receive free school meals and free board and lodgings during residential school trips.

The government is calling on school governors to support its campaign to reduce potentially harmful, high levels of salt in school children’s meals.  According to new government figures, children’s salt intakes are now on a par with those of adults and could lead to life threatening diseases in later life such as high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

To reduce this potential health risk, governors are being asked to encourage their school caterers to opt for healthier low salt alternatives to processed foods. They are also being asked to look at healthier, low salt brand options for Breakfast Clubs, snack shops and school vending machines.  According to the government, many children are unwittingly consuming high levels of salt through processed foods that have not traditionally been thought of as salty. These include some breakfast cereals, cheese, baked beans, meat products such as sausages and ham, packet soups, pizza, and tomato sauce.

To help schools and parents monitor children’s salt intake, the Government’s expert Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition has published salt intake targets for children in its report ‘Salt and Health’:

Target average salt intake (g/day)

Age 1-3 years:  2
Age 4-6 years:  3
Age 7-10 years: 5
Age 11-14 years: 6

For further information and to access a .pdf format of the report ‘Salt and Health’ visit the Food Standards Agency Website.

Guidance
Further information on Nutritional Standards is available via the TeacherNet 'School food and drink' section (see link in Web Links below).

Guidance on a Whole School Food Policy is available via the GovernorNet article "Establishing a Whole School Food Policy".  The National Governors Council is also working with DCSF to help develop school food policies.  See links to GovernorNet articles in Background Reading below.

The Law
Nutritional standards are set out in the Education Nutritional Standards for School Lunches (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1777). 
School Standards and Framework Act 1998: Section 114

Related Topics
The following GovernorNet articles may provide useful additional information and can be accessed via links in Background below:

• Health and Safety in Schools - Overview
• Pupil Health and supporting pupils with medical needs