Figures released last month by the DCSF from the 2007-08 local authorities school meals survey reveal an increase in the number of students eating schools meals:

* More than three million children are eating school dinners daily – an increase of about 50,000 extra pupils over last year
* 43% of primary school children have school lunch – a two percentage point rise, compared to a one percentage point fall last year
* 37% of secondary school children have school lunch – a 0.5 percentage point fall compared to a five percentage point fall in 2006-07.

The government has also added an extra £6m over the next three years to promote healthy food to young people and raise take up – on top of the £21m funding settlement the School Food Trust received in March. And grants totalling £46.9m to build new school kitchens have been awarded to 15 local authorities from the £150m school kitchen fund announced last autumn.

But the biggest issues for school caterers are the rising food, fuel and labour costs. These will begin to impact on operators’ margins from September and will have a negative impact if government initiatives to generate more income do not succeed.

www.dcsf.gov.uk