News

LACA National Chair Anne Bull has been invited to join a School Food Plan Expert Panel that will meet for the first time today to discuss the School Food Action Plan being drawn up by the co-founders of the Leon restaurant chain.

John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby have responded to Education Secretary Michael Gove’s invitation to take the development of school meals to the next stage by drawing up a School Food Action Plan.

The Expert Panel aims to bring together a small group of people with in-depth knowledge and understanding of providing food in schools, healthy eating and changing behaviour.

Members of the Panel will act as a forum, providing comment and guidance as the School Food Plan develops. The group will also provide a 'sounding board' for Vincent and Dimbleby to test and refine their potential recommendations.

It is anticipated the panel will meet four times in total from now until April 2013, with a meeting to be held near the end of each of the four phases of project activity - in November, January and March.

LACA will also be meeting with the Vincent and Dimbleby separately to discuss their plans in greater details and to assess the role that LACA can play and what it can contribute to the School Food Plan.

The Leon pair have already indicated that they would like to visit other areas of the UK and have asked LACA for assistance with this.

As LACA's representative on the SFP Expert Panel, Anne Bull will keep members informed about the outcome of any discussions and the progress that is being made along the way, via the LACA website or by email updates over the coming months.

Today’s inaugural meeting takes place at the Department for Education (DfE).

The School Food Plan project will be launching a website on Monday, October 15th. It will aim to share the work of the reviewers as the Plan progresses and to invite people to share their thoughts and suggestions.

As soon as the School Food Plan website launches, a link will be provided from the LACA website. The new website will feature video clips of interviews conducted with LACA national chair Anne Bull, LACA members plus a wide range of professionals from across the school food industry as well as with other representatives concerned with children's health and wellbeing.

LACA will be using this dedicated section of the website to keep members informed about the outcomes of the School Food Action Plan Expert Panel meetings and updates on School Food Action Plan progress.