Tackling Obesity in England - National Audit Office

TACKLING OBESITY IN ENGLANDpart four44viii. Promoting healthy eating in schools4.56 The promotion of a healthy diet in schools can help toinstil healthy eating patterns that might persist intoadulthood. It is also necessary in order to address therising prevalence of overweight and obesity amongchildren. Figure 25 illustrates the intersectingresponsibilities of relevant Government departmentsand the main initiatives to have emerged from crosscuttingwork.4.57 The independent inquiry commissioned by theGovernment on 'Inequalities in Health', published in1998 40 , stressed the importance of providing a healthydiet in schools and recommended the provision of freeschool fruit. The most recent survey of the National Dietand Nutrition Survey programme, published in June2000 18 , focussed on the diets and nutritional status ofyoung people between the ages of 4 and 18 years. Itfound that:nnntaking fruit, vegetables and fruit juice together,average consumption was 188 grams per day. This iswell below the World Health Organisation'srecommendation for adults of 400 grams per day,which is considered optimum for protecting health;although 98 per cent of children reported eatingsome fruit and vegetables at least once during thesurvey week, 20 per cent did not consume any fruitand four per cent did not consume any vegetables;average intakes of saturated fatty acids and addedsugars were higher than recommended.4.58 To help address these deficiencies, the Department ofHealth announced in July 2000 funding of £2 million onschemes to encourage the consumption of fruit andvegetables among children and young people. TheDepartment is examining the practicalities of providingevery school child aged between four and six with a freepiece of fruit each school day. The Department forEducation and Employment has also led thedevelopment of nutrition standards for school lunches.The aim is to enhance food choice in schools byensuring that all school caterers meet minimumnutritional standards in the lunches they offer toschoolchildren. Regulations setting minimum nutritionalstandards for school lunches are being implementedfrom April 2001, supported by guidance for catererswhich includes advice on healthy cooking methods. Thestandards and guidance were developed throughextensive consultation with the Department of Healthand the Food Standards Agency, and the private andvoluntary sectors. All school lunches will have to meetthe new standards.4.59 The Department for Education and Employment is alsofunding the Child Poverty Action Group to conductresearch into why some children do not take up theirentitlement to free school meals, with the aim of makingavailable good practice guidance on maximising freeschool meal take-up.4.60 Curricular education in the areas of nutrition and foodtechnology is complementary. Nutrition teaches pupilsabout the importance of food for health, the essentialcomponents of diet, the nutritional content of differentfoods, and how to make sensible food choices. Foodtechnology covers the practical use and preparation offood.4.61 A sound knowledge of food and nutrition provides arange of teaching opportunities for primary schoolteachers across the whole curriculum, which can be amajor boost to diet and health education. To help newlyqualified primary teachers to cover food and nutritionaccurately and in depth, the Department of Health havepublished, in association with the Ministry ofAgriculture, Fisheries and Food and with assistance fromthe British Nutrition Foundation, a guide entitled 'Foodand Nutrition: Guidance on Food and Nutrition inPrimary Teacher Training'. The Department forEducation and Employment also receives advice andteaching aids from other industry and specialistorganisations which undertake research in this area,such as the Food and Drink Federation, the British MeatFederation, and the National Association of HomeEconomics.4.62 Schools also offer an environment for promoting healthyeating through extra-curricular activities involvingnutrition and cookery and through providing healthyoptions in tuck shops and breakfast clubs. These outletscan provide an important source of nutrition,particularly for those children at risk of poor nutrition athome. Cooking for Kids is a joint initiative between theDepartment of Health and the Department forEducation and Employment, led by Ministers, whichaims to teach practical cookery skills to pupils in astimulating way, using school facilities but outside ofschool hours. This range of initiatives is currently beingevaluated. The Healthy Schools Programme offersfurther encouragement for schools to develop suchactivities, as healthy eating is one of the ten themes ofthe National Healthy School Standard.