DCSF: Massive culture change underway

Fostering healthier eating habits among schoolchildren requires a major culture change, the government has cautioned.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said it would not be enforcing the School Trust Fund's proposals for increasing take-up of healthier school dinners through banning off-site lunchtime trips.

He insisted the government has "no intention of backtracking" on applying the tough new nutritional standards on school food and backed the STF's campaign to raise take-up, however.

Latest statistics show school lunch take-up has dropped over the last three years, especially in secondary schools, although the decline is now halting in primary schools.

The spokesman said the DCSF was confident this trend would be reversed in time and said the "massive culture change in school food" was "never going to happen overnight".