Funding boost for School Food Trust

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Family, announced £21 million in funding for the School Food Trust over the next three years.

The funding is for 2008-11 and will support the Trust’s ongoing work to drive up the quality of school food and increase take up of meals through better education for parents, children and young people.

Balls also announced a further £2 million capital investment for the Trust to expand the School FEAST network of training centres for the school food workforce.

Ed Balls made the announcement whilst speaking at the launch of the School FEAST network of 16 school caterers’ training centres at Thames Valley University. Talking about the funding boost, Ed Balls said:

“Improving the quality of school meals, education about healthy eating and teaching children to cook is one of my passions.

“There are no quick, overnight solutions to improving the way we eat as a nation. I make no apology for introducing tough nutritional standards for school food – there is nothing more important than our children’s wellbeing.”

The funding settlement is on top of the £627 million ringfenced funding for school food since 2005, which includes:

£220 million transitional funding for schools and local authorities to adjust to tough new nutritional standards from 2005-08
£240 million subsidy for cost of producing school lunches from 2008-11
£15million for the School Food Trust from 2005-08
£2 million capital funding for the School FEAST network
£150 million capital funding to help authorities with the greatest need to build new school kitchens - on top of the broader £22 billion capital funding settlement last November for schools and local authorities.

Funding boost for School Food Trust

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