Morning, Monday, 31st March 2025
Online
This conference focuses on key developments, priorities and direction of policy for children’s food and nutrition in England.
It will be an opportunity for stakeholders and policymakers to assess the direction of government policy and approaches to improve the wider food environment, following the commitment to rollout breakfast clubs in all of England’s primary schools, as well as plans to implement restrictions on HFSS and ultra-processed food on both TV and paid-for online advertising by October 2025.
Delegates will assess latest thinking on the future for school meal provision, with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently progressing through Parliament, including expansion of eligibility of free school lunches. They will consider funding and other resources needed moving forward, alongside wider opportunities for improving children’s health - as well as education on food, as the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review continues.
Priorities for achieving improved school food standards will also be discussed, with the final report from the FSA’s School Food Standards Compliance Pilot identifying challenges in the process of following up on areas of non-compliance.
Further sessions focus on next steps for tackling childhood obesity and developing new approaches to prevention and care for children, following plans outlined in the draft 10 Year Health Plan, which identified a preventative model as a key strand of focus moving forward. Areas for discussion include future frameworks for collaboration between primary care, specialist services and the third sector, options for introducing stricter regulation following The Scottish Government’s plans to restrict children’s access to sweets and birthday cakes in nurseries, and new strategies for prevention and early intervention.
Ahead of publication of the Government’s child poverty strategy, delegates will examine latest thinking on opportunities and practicalities for supporting child development and addressing food-related poverty. Attendees will consider how best to tackle food insecurity and increase the accessibility of affordable, healthy food, particularly in the context of cost-of-living pressures, with the Faculty of Public Health recommending universal school meal provision for all primary and secondary school children in England. Those attending will examine challenges around expanding free school meal schemes and priorities for reducing inequalities and stigma, and identifying at-risk households.
We are pleased to be able to include a keynote session with: Kristin Bash, Chair, Food Special Interest Group, Faculty of Public Health - with further contributions from Chris Walker, Head, Policy and Government Affairs, Advertising Association; Amy Glass, Head, UK Diet and Health Policy, Food and Drink Federation. We are in touch with further senior contributors.
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates.
