Proposed Healthier School Meals Measure

Pre-ballot Information

Michael German

Policy Objectives of the Proposed Measure

1. The nutritional content of school meals has been a source of concern for some time. Feeding our children shouldn’t be about putting the easiest and quickest food on their plates, it should be a vital part of feeding their appetite for learning and feeding their ability to learn.

This measure would introduce new nutritional standards for school meals, based on best practice and research, which would provide children with at least a third of their nutritional needs.

It would place a duty on education authorities to ensure that meals provided at schools complies with nutritional regulations that ensure the provision of a meal that provides largely a third of a child's daily nutritional needs.

Allow education authorities to specify particular foods or drinks which fail to satisfy the nutritional regulations so that they can be banned from school premises.

This measure falls within matter 5.9 so is already within the legislative competence of the Assembly.

Support received/Consultation

2. Consultation: Appetite for Life, a WAG report was subject to widespread consultation and many of its recommendations would be encompassed by this measure. The Scottish Executive/Parliament have introduced an Act which has significant overlap with this proposal and from which much could be learnt on the detail.