TO BE PUBLISHED December 2024
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This conference will examine key priorities for children’s food and nutrition in England, and options for policy moving forward to support food security, health and education.
It is bringing together stakeholders with policymakers to discuss priorities for the new Government and approaches to improving the wider food environment, following plans outlined in the King’s Speech to implement restrictions on HFSS and ultra-processed food advertising, as well as on the sale of highly caffeinated drinks to under-16s.
Delegates will look at next steps for the delivery of free school meal schemes and the direction of school meal provision in relation to objectives in Labour’s Child Health Action Plan published in June 2024. With the Chancellor announcing a £7m breakfast club pilot, sessions will discuss the way forward for proposed breakfast clubs for primary school children, and more widely at opportunities for improving children’s health, including latest thinking on increasing nutritional uptake, as well as addressing issues raised by some stakeholders regarding food education and encouraging better attitudes towards healthier foods.
Further sessions will bring out latest thinking on how best to tackle food insecurity and increase the accessibility of affordable, healthy food, particularly in the context of cost-of-living pressures. Challenges around expanding eligibility of free school meal schemes will be discussed, including options for funding, priorities for reducing inequalities and stigma, and identifying at-risk households. Delegates will consider calls from some stakeholders to introduce revised approaches to the current opt-in free school meal model, alongside implications of expanding free school meal provision on school caterers and kitchen facilities, and what is needed to meet demand.
With the final report from the FSA’s School Food Standards Compliance Pilot identifying challenges in enforcement, the agenda includes a focus on strategies moving forward for ensuring compliance with school food standards. Areas for discussion include next steps for implementing a standardised process after cases of potential non-compliance and priorities for funding improvements to school kitchens and facilities.
Delegates will also discuss the preparation, implementation and potential impact of policy plans for tackling childhood obesity, including introduction of stricter advertising regulations and levies on non-essential unhealthy foods, and as well as developing new approaches to obesity prevention and care for children. The conference follows the publication of NHS England’s Health Survey for England, 2022 part 2, which found that one in eight children were obese in 2022.
Further discussion is expected on what can be learned from initiatives such as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy so far, how the proposed measures can be implemented in the most effective way, including on the internet, provision of clarity for businesses affected, and addressing cost and other concerns that have prompted industry resistance to similar proposals in the past.
With the 2022/23 NHS National Child Measurement Programme finding that children in more deprived areas experience higher levels of obesity, delegates will discuss support for long-term well-being and options for tackling inequalities by providing greater access to healthy food.
We are pleased to be able to include keynote sessions with: Kevin Dodds, Deputy Director, Healthy Weight and Nutrition, DHSC; Marina Ahmad AM, Chair, Economy, Culture and Skills Committee, London Assembly; and Kristin Bash, Chair, Food Special Interest Group, FPH. Further senior participants are being approached.
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. Those due to attend include officials from Defra; DHSC; DESNZ; FSS; the Welsh Government; and The Scottish Government.
