Free school meals to save parents millions

All infants starting in September are now eligible for free school dinners thanks to a government initiative.

And parents in Staffordshire and Sandwell are the biggest winners, saving a potential £9.7 million and £3.9m respectively on the cost of meals. Dudley families, meanwhile, will save £3.5m, Walsall £3.1m and Wolverhampton £2.7m.

Statistics from the Children's Food Trust indicate that each individual parent will save around £400 this year as a result of the initiative.

Aside from the financial implications, the initiative aims to provide infants across the country with an early exposure to the benefits of a healthy, balanced and nutritious diet.

Around 57,000 children in the West Midlands will see the benefit.

Wolverhampton City Council's schools boss, Councillor Phil Page said: "I think it's a good thing, it's something the council has supported for a long time.

"There are a number of studies that have established that if children have nutritious food in their diet it helps them to concentrate and that has got to be a good thing for the kids, their parents and schools.

"The city council have supported the idea that young people need to some balance in their diet, it gets them started in the right way and helps their development both physically and mentally.

"It is positive through and through."

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said: "Free school meals for infants will not only save families hundreds of pounds a year but will also have an impact on how a child performs in the classroom so that, regardless of their background, every child can have the best possible start in life.

"This is one of the most progressive changes to our school system for a long time.

"My goal is to create a level playing field for all of our children so their success will be determined by their talents and efforts alone and not by their parents' bank balance."

The new policy is just one aspect of the work that the Government is doing to improve the provision of meals in schools.

In 2013, it published the School Food Plan, which aims to transform what children eat in schools and how they learn about food. A total of £150 million has been made available to improve schools' kitchen and dining facilities, with an additional £22.5 million specifically to help smaller schools.

It is also hoped that the availability of free school meals will help reduce the obesity problem, with around 20 per cent of children currently classed as obese by the time they leave primary school.