Boris Johnson's food tsar calls for sugar and salt tax to fund free school meal expansion

They form part of a number of recommendations to Government by the restauranteur co-founder of Leon, who was commissioned by the Prime Minister to draw up a National Food Strategy in 2019.

According to Mr Dimbleby, the proposed ‘landmark Sugar and Salt Reformulation Tax’, payable by food manufacturers, would raise £3.4 billion a year, some of which he says should fund an expansion of free school meals.

In his second report to the Government, published today, Mr Dimbleby, suggests raising the household earnings threshold for the scheme to £20,000 to target families in most ‘urgent need’, benefitting their children’s health and educational achievement.

(Currently families with a household income under £7,400 before benefits qualify for free school meals.)

It also says that free school meals should be extended to children who are undocumented, or have no recourse to public funds.

This would mean that an extra 1.1m children would become eligible for free school meals.

He estimates that extending the scheme in this way would cost £55m per year, and suggests using some of the funds raised through the Sugar and Salt Reformulation Tax to pay for it. The rest of the funds, the Department for Education (DfE) could bid for in the upcoming Spending Review, he says.

Mr Dimbleby said, ‘The food system is a logistical miracle, full of amazing, inventive people. With the right leadership from Government, it is well within our power to change the system so it makes both us and the planet healthier.

‘Currently, however, the way we produce food is doing terrible damage to the environment and to our bodies, and putting an intolerable strain on the NHS.

‘Covid-19 has been a painful reality check. Our high obesity rate has been a major factor in the UK’s tragically high death rate.  We must now seize the moment to build a better food system for our children and grandchildren.’

Making food central to the curriculum

Another recommendation of Mr Dimbleby’s is the introduction of a new ‘Eat and Learn’ initiative for children aged three - to- 18, in partnership with the new Office of Health Promotion.

The initiative would make learning to eat well part of every child’s school experience, with the aim of improving children’s diets, helping them maintain a healthy weight and preventing obesity and diet-related ill health later in life.

Although schools have a legal obligation to teach cookery and nutrition, the report claims that it remains a ‘second-class’ subject.

Early years

For early years specifically, the report calls on the DfE to update the EYFS to include sensory food education.

It says, ‘This teaching method – in which children are introduced to new foods and encouraged to explore them with all five senses – has been shown to increase children’s willingness to try fruit and vegetables.’

It also recommends:

• A requirement for all schools to work with accreditation schemes, such as Food for Life, to improve their food and education.
• Ofsted assess the quality of food and nutrition lessons with the same rigour as they do English and maths.
• Government pay for ingredients that children use in cooking lessons in early years settings and schools.
• The introduction of a dedicated Eat and Learn team in the DfE to implement all the changes.

Sugar and salt tax

Under the recommendation, all sugar and other ingredients used for sweetening, such as syrups and fruit extracts, but not raw fruit, would be taxed at a rate of £3 per kg. All salt sold for used in food manufacturing would be taxed at £6 per kg.

The tax would replace the current Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL). It would not apply to  ingredients used in ‘home cooking’, explains the report.

The aim of the tax would be to encourage manufacturers to ‘reformulate’ their products to use less sugar and salt, in order to keep costs down. However, Mr Dimbleby warns where products cannot be ‘reformulated’, the additional costs may be passed on to the consumer, but this would make these products less appealing to buy.

More recommendations

Other recommendations set out within the report include:

• An extension of the holiday activities and food programme for the next three years. The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme offers a holiday club to children who normally receive free school meals. Funding for the scheme ends this year.
• Expansion of the Healthy Start scheme to all households earning under £20,000 with pregnant women or children under five. The scheme, which provides vouchers that can be exchanged for vitamins and fruit, vegetables and milk, is currently only open to pregnant women under 18 and low-income families with children aged three or under that qualify for benefits.

Report welcomed

The Children’s Society welcomed the recommendation to extend eligibility of free school meals.

Research and public affairs team leader Richard Crellin said, ‘We know that free school meals act as a lifeline for struggling families, many of whom may be experiencing increased financial pressures due to Covid.   

‘We really welcome that free school meals would also continue to be extended to all those children from households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and this permanent extension is something we have called for during the pandemic.’

June O’Sullivan, chief executive of the London Early Years Foundation, which operates 42 nurseries, said, ‘With children aged four - to-six in the most deprived households twice as likely to have obesity compared to those in the least deprived households, never has there been a more pertinent time for food education to be central to the national curriculum – and this must include the early years. 

‘While initiatives such as our Chef Academy and professional qualification help bridge this gap, more robust measures must be introduced at Government level to support the diets of those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods. It’s absolutely scandalous that in 2021, children are coming to nursery hungry and parents are having to access the daily food banks which we now provide as an essential necessity.’

• The report is available here