New pilot projects to help schools meet the school food standards, ensuring children have access to delicious nutritious food throughout the school day are welcome, but ultimately a very small part of what is needed to improve children’s diets and health.
These plans must not replace comprehensive action from Government to address the wider drivers of poor diet and childhood obesity. Obesity is one of the main drivers of health inequalities, as children in the most deprived areas more than twice as likely to have obesity than those living in the least deprived areas. We urge the Government to push on with landmark plans to address the marketing of unhealthy food and drinks and resist all attempts to weaken or de-rail these vital evidence-based policies.