School meal rules should apply to academies - parents
Parents want meals in academies and free schools to be bound by the same nutrition standards as those in local authority schools, a report suggests.
Some 92% of parents polled also said they wanted an independent body to ensure the standards were met.
Academies and free schools in England are not bound by government regulations on school food.
Jamie Oliver, who campaigns for better school meals, urged the government "to do something positive with the data".
The TV chef supports demands for legislation on school meal nutrition to apply to all schools. Currently academies and free schools are expected to comply with the standards on a voluntary basis.
Standard concerns
Some 83% of the 12,000 parents who responded to an online poll agreed that schools in areas of deprivation should be given extra money for their catering service.
A quarter of the parents polled said they wanted breakfasts to be provided by schools. More than 8% of secondary school parents admitted their children left home without breakfast.
Despite the enthusiasm for good nutrition, more than half of the parents polled (57%) said they did not know whether their child's school was definitely meeting the standards.
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... (BBC News - 5 November)