If Labour is re-elected, more money will be made available to improve the quality of school meals, education secretary Ruth Kelly announced this week at the launch of a new Labour children’s manifesto.
Kelly also pledged to provide additional resources to improve school kitchens, equipment and dining areas.
Kelly said that more details on the extra meals funding would be made available in the next few weeks. The manifesto reveals that the plans to improve school kitchens will partly be funded by the extra investment in primary schools announced in the 2005 budget.
Other commitments under a third term Labour government outlined in the document include incentivising schools to comply with the measures through Ofsted taking account of meals in its inspection framework from this September. A new vocational qualification to help school dinner ladies to drive up standards is also planned.
In other areas the manifesto reveals plans to set a national target to stop the year on year increase in obesity amongst under 11s by 2010.
Ministers go on to pledge to increase the child element of the working tax credit at least in line with average earnings up to and including 2007-8 and state that this will play a key role in meeting their targets of halving children poverty by 2010-11 and eradicating it by 2020.
Children’s minister Margaret Hodge, also speaking at the manifesto launch, said that the government had a role in supporting families. "We believe government should not interfere, but that government should help. The state doesn't bring up children, people do. But that recognition should not lead government to abandon families either,” she said.
The Child Poverty Action Group welcomed the measures but warned that more investment would be needed to lift the poorest children out of poverty.
Anne Longfield, chief executive of children’s charity 4Children, applauded the focus on children but said that the government needed to make “firmer commitments” on providing young people with places to go and things to do in the community.
Children forward not back from: www.labour.org.uk
