We are working together to support all London schools to use food growing to boost learning; encourage healthy and sustainable choices; and connect communities.
Food Growing Schools: London are inviting schools in Southwark interested in food growing projects, to a ‘Forum’ at John Ruskin Primary School, John Ruskin Street, Camberwell, SE5 0PQ on Tuesday 24th May from 3.30 to 5.30pm.
These Forums are a chance to gain inspiration and ideas from another food growing school, share ideas and learn something new through a seasonal activity run by Food Growing Schools: London.
We would also like these forums to act as a swap shop, so please bring along and seeds, plants, tools and educational resources you would either like to share, give away or swap with other schools. These forum meetings are open to anyone from Southwark schools involved in or wishing to develop a food growing project, staff, parents, volunteers…
Please contact Paul Sadler at to confirm you would like to attend.
A huge thank you to all of you for supporting the campaign to save UIFSM! Today during Prime Minister’s Questions David Cameron announced that Universal Infant Free School Meals were safe. Talking about the policy, the PM said “I’m proud of what we’ve done and we’ll be keeping it”. You can watch it all happen here. The announcement was prompted by a question from Sharon Hodgson MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on school food, who asked whether the PM would go down in history as “Dave the Dinner Snatcher”. Thankfully he will not and has honoured his manifesto promise … I suspect with a little nudge from all of you who signed our petition. Thank you!
School Food Matters
26 October 2015
We’re Recruiting!
Communications Officer – Food Growing Schools: London (Maternity cover)
Location: Old Street, London & home based with regular travel to Coventry Salary: £25,375 pro rata Hours: 28 hours per week
This is a fantastic opportunity to be involved in this inspiring, London-wide project. We are looking for an enthusiastic individual who has experience and a proven track record of working in communications & PR. We want someone with an excellent knowledge of a range of communications channels including PR, Media, Web and Social Media and with a good understanding of & press contacts within the London region. The person will join our team to offer maternity cover and deliver the communications strategy to facilitate the main project objective of supporting all schools in London to become food growing schools.
Application Closing Date: Monday, 16 November 2015 Interview Date: Tuesday, 24 November 2015
For more information and to apply visit Garden Organic.
13 October 2015
Growathon – Ready. Set. Grow!
The challenge is on. Growathon, a new initiative aiming to be the biggest London school food growing campaign of the coming year, has been launched by the Food Growing Schools: London partnership (FGSL). With the aim of reaching 10,000 London students growing food in our city by Summer 2016, students from every London borough are being set the challenge to grow one thing, feed their city, and tell a friend today!
The new Growathon website enables schools, students and growing organisations to share their food growing activities on the Growathon Carrot Totaliser and watch as the numbers increase! www.growathon.org.uk
From classroom windowsill growers to urban school farms, and schools wishing to try growing food for the first time, every school in London is welcome to get involved. Activities such as workshops, lessons, assemblies, events, class projects and school farm visits will all be included. And schools will be able to advertise public growing events on the website to invite other young people to come along.
Grassroots growing, educational and environmental organisations such as community gardens, are also being encouraged to support schools to meet the challenge, proving that together there is a real hunger for healthy, local food in our communities, starting with young people.
Colette Bond, Head of Education at Garden Organic said:
“Since early 2014 Garden Organic has been proud to lead the Food Growing Schools: London partnership towards achieving the ambitious aim to see every school in London growing food. Growathon is a new initiative that recognises each and every one of our partner’s hard work and dedication to collectively reaching this goal, through their unique and inspiring school growing activities, events, resources and training”.
“Now there’s the chance for schools and community organisations in every London Borough to celebrate what they are doing too – and together reach our target of 10,000 students growing food by Summer 2016!”
FGSL partner activities include: Garden Organic’s Give it a Grow campaign, Capital Growth’s Harvestometer, the new Soil Association Food for Life Award Scheme, Morrisons’ Academy of Food, RHS Campaign for School Gardening workshops for teachers, School Food Matters’ Schools to Market (Whole Foods) and Young Marketeers (Borough Market) programmes and Trees for Cities’ Edible Playgrounds.
Garden Organic’s Give it a Grow initiative is an ideal opportunity for individuals, schools and the wider community to get started. Anyone can grow their own food, even on a small scale. All you need is: just one pot, some compost (preferably peat free and organic) and some seeds. Garden Organic have suggested some plants that are simple to grow, delicious to eat, and will grow happily and healthily in your pot. Browse through the cards, pick your favourite from the list and see how you go. To make your pledge today, visit: www.giveitagrow.gardenorganic.org.uk
The hugely popular Schools Marketplace is also back, on Thursday 15 October 2015 with the Mayor of London’s Food team opening the doors of the prestigious City Hall to the public one again. From strawberry jam to tomato ketchup, and the great British apple to winter salad bags – young entrepreneurs are bringing harvest time to the city. On the day participating schools will be entered in to the Schools Marketplace Competition, to win prizes awarded by Abel and Cole, the organic home delivery service and box scheme. Categories include: Best enterprising product, Best stall and People’s choice (by public vote).
The Schools Marketplace takes place on Thursday 15th October 2015 from 12 – 3pm at City Hall, The Queen’s Walk London SE1 2AA. It is organised by Garden Organic and Capital Growth as part of Grow Your Own Business, a city-wide celebration of school food growing, enterprise and learning: foodgrowingschools.org/events/gyobusiness. To get a flavour of previous events visit: www.flickr.com/groups/foodgrowingschools/pool.
A Growathon Forum event will take place in Spring 2016, for schools and growing organisations. This occasion will build on the success of Growathon so far, connecting with Food Growing Schools: London partnership organisations, and cementing relationships with food growing networks in London Boroughs to support schools locally.
16 October 2015
Mayor and Whole Kids Foundation help tackle child obesity with £42,000 for schools to grow their own food
Lambeth and Croydon schools eligible to apply for share of £42,000 School Garden Grant
Mayor has partnered with Whole Kids Foundation to pilot the programme in the UK
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, today confirmed details of a £42,000 funding pot that will allow schools in Lambeth and Croydon to grow their own food as part of his ongoing drive to tackle obesity in the capital and get young Londoners eating more healthily. Today’s announcement comes on World Food Day as Rosie Boycott, Chair of London, joins UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other influential leaders at the Milan Expo to discuss the challenge of sustainably eradicating hunger and poverty over the next 15 years.
10.8 per cent of London’s children are already dangerously obese when they start primary school and by age 11, one in five are obese. Poor diet is linked to further complications later in life, ranging from Type 2 diabetes to cancer whilst the cost to health budgets has been estimated at £5 billion a year currently and is rising.
The School Garden Grants scheme will give state funded schools in both boroughs the chance to apply for grants ranging between £300 and £3,000 to create or improve edible gardens, which will be used to educate children about the food they eat and help them to lead healthier lives.
Lambeth and Croydon were both selected by the Mayor to be Food Flagship Boroughs last year, working to tackle child obesity through better diets and food education. In a UK first, the boroughs are making changes to the way food is served in schools, hospitals, and – working with major supermarkets and other retailers – on the high street. The aim is to show that joined up thinking can improve health and academic attainment of pupils and also of adults in the local communities they serve.
The Mayor has teamed up with Whole Kids Foundation to deliver the School Garden Grants scheme. Whole Kids Foundation – the charitable arm of Whole Foods Market – has run the scheme in the US and Canada for five years, with impressive results. Their work there has funded 3,014 school gardens, trained 8,438 teachers and served 3.796,922 students. By encouraging children to plant, nurture, harvest, cook and eat food they have grown themselves, the pilot scheme in London will help them to foster a love of good food and increase understanding of how diet impacts on health.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, said: “I am delighted to be working with Whole Kids Foundation to introduce this innovative scheme into Croydon and Lambeth schools as the boroughs continue their great work to improve diets and attitudes to food.”
“As our city grows, it’s vital we equip our kids with the all the skills they need to not only get a job but to see them lead a happy and healthier life. Of course, growing their own food will do this, with the added benefit of helping to trim the multi-billion pound burden on the taxpayer that stems from unhealthy eating and poor food related illness.”
The scheme will consider requests ranging from tools to training, equipment to part-funding a school gardener until the application process closes on 4 December 2015.
Benjamin Woodgate from Whole Kids Foundation said: “Helping kids learn to love fresh, nutritious, whole foods is our number one priority and we know that given the right opportunities, kids will get excited about fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other nutritious whole foods. We are delighted to have partnered with the Mayor of London to deliver Garden Grants to local school – together we are growing healthy kids.”
As well as work in schools, the two Food Flagship Boroughs are demonstrating the transformational impact on health and attainment achievable through improving food across the whole environment.
Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food, said: “School Garden Grants are a great way to harness the enthusiasm of teachers, children and parents toward eating more fruit, vegetables and quality, affordable food.
“Eating well helps not only to avoid health problems now and in the future, but has been shown to be a key ingredient to classroom success. Good, nutritious food help to keep children alert during school time and to sustain them throughout the day.”
For more information go to www.london.gov.uk/priorities/health.
12 October 2015
Rockmount Primary take their food growing to the next level
Pupils at Rockmount Primary School in Croydon will have the opportunity to take their growing to the next level. The charity Trees for Cities has started work to create an Edible Playground which will be launched next Spring/Summer 2016.
Edible Playgrounds transform areas in school grounds into vibrant outdoor spaces that excite and teach children about growing and eating healthy food. By instilling healthy eating habits at an early age, Edible Playgrounds help tackle obesity, food poverty and lack of access to nature head on, and provide a platform for fun and engaging lessons that support the school curriculum.
The edible playground will be designed specifically for the school, to include raised beds for growing fruit, vegetables and herbs and fruit trees will be planted along with climbing plants such as honeysuckle and blackberries. Pupils will enjoy planting and harvesting workshops throughout the year, and teachers will receive support to teach outdoors through gardening.
The school has already appointed caterers with a focus on high quality, nutritious and freshly prepared meals and improved the aesthetics of the dining hall, introducing polka dot tablecloths, flowers and soft music and promoted the whole social experience of eating together.
They then moved on to growing some of their own vegetables such as sprouts and chard on school grounds to contribute to school lunches Having been awarded Lead Food Flagship status an Edible Playground will really help the pupils and school to take their food growing to the next level. Through this project, growing and eating healthy foods will become an integral part of the school curriculum and the school experience.
“As educators we have a huge responsibility to lead our children and support them to make the right choices to achieve healthy lifestyles” Said Helen Carval and Tracey Langridge, Head Teachers at Rockmount Primary School. “Through our engagement with Trees for Cities as a Lead Food Flagship project, we have been able to develop our food, crop growing and gardening initiatives. We are very conscious of the link between nutrition, health and academic performance. The project has been eagerly embraced and we are very excited about the wide range of learning opportunities this opens up for the whole school community”.
Kate Sheldon, Acting Chief Executive of Trees for Cities said: “’With increasing concerns around food poverty, obesity and malnutrition, the next generation is in danger of losing touch with nature and not knowing why a healthy diet is important. Edible Playgrounds show children how rewarding it is to spend time outdoors and get them excited about where their food comes from”.
TfC’s technical expertise in the delivery of Edible Playgrounds and operations is well established and highly regarded. The first Edible Playground was created in 2003. There are currently over 25 Edible Playgrounds in the UK with a further 50 to be rolled out over the next three years.
This project has been supported by the Mayor of London Food Flagship Programme, Marsh and City Bridge Trust.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
33% of UK primary school pupils believe pasta is made from meat
10% believe potatoes grow on trees
33% think that cheese comes from plants
25% think fish fingers come from chicken or pigs
survey of 27,500 pupils from the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF)
Startling Stats
1 in 5 children in the UK are already overweight or obese by the age of five
1 in 3 children are affected by child obesity by the age of 11
4 in 5 children aged five to 15 fail to consume the recommended five portions of fruits and vegetables per day
37 % of children between ages of 5 – 12 do not eat enough every day
In 2013 over 95% of teachers reported that they had pupils coming to school hungry
More than 40% of teachers surveyed reported giving food to pupils at their own expense on a monthly basis
Food Poverty – The London Assembly Health and Environment Committee report (2013)96,997 children received support from a Food Bank last financial year – http://www.trusselltrust.org/stats
Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg launched at Brixton Market
The Mayor of London’s food advisor Rosie Boycott joined traders and local families at Brixton Market today to celebrate the launch of a brand new healthy eating initiative.
The Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg project was set up by Alexandra Rose Charities in partnership with Food Matters with the aim of promoting healthy eating and combating food poverty by giving families vouchers that can be redeemed for fresh fruit and vegetables at local markets.
The project will support 100 families with the provision of Rose Vouchers that can be redeemed at participating traders at Brixton Market and in West Norwood. Working in partnership with local children’s centres, the aim of the project is to work with families with young children who are living on low incomes. The children’s centres will identify families who could benefit most from the scheme as well as providing support such as cooking classes to build their skills and confidence.
Rose Vouchers supports families to adopt healthier lifestyles in the crucial years before school starts. An evaluation undertaken by independent researchers, shows the intervention is effective in increasing uptake and variety of fruit and vegetables in both children and their parents.*
Jonathan Pauling, Chief Executive of Alexandra Rose Charities, said: “All evidence suggests the first three years of a child’s life are the most important in setting their future life chances. Rose Vouchers give families the financial power in their pockets to give their children the healthiest start in life.”
The project runs in partnership with Lambeth Council’s Food Flagship scheme; part of a wider initiative to make Lambeth’s food culture healthier and more sustainable. The Food Flagship project, funded by the Mayor of London and the Department of Education, aims to roll-out the good work happening around school food to the wider community. Lambeth will launch a range of initiatives to get residents eating healthier, more nutritious food over the next two years.
Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food, said: “The Mayor set up the London Food Board to help improve Londoners’ access to healthy, locally produced and affordable food. By supporting Lambeth as a Food Flagship borough, the Mayor hopes to foster a love of good, healthy and nutritious produce in children and families that will involve the whole community.
For more information contact: Chief Executive – Jonathan Pauling 07977068655, [email protected]
* A full copy of the evaluation can be found at: http://www.alexandrarosecharities.org.uk/system/uploads/files/000/000/001/original/Rose_Vouchers_for_Fruit_and_Veg_Evaluation_Scheme.pdf?1416405613
Please click here to sign our petition and show your support for this policy!
Huge thanks to all of you who signed the petition to save UIFSM! We’ve now got over 32,000 signatures and lots of press interest in the campaign. Please enjoy this BBC News piece featuring our friends at Lowther Primary School.
We’ve had encouraging news this morning in the form of a Sky News piece reporting that David Cameron has pledged his support for UIFSM! We’re working hard to make this a reality but you can help by continuing to add your names to the petition and getting this news out to your network.
Contributed by School Food Matters.
25 September 2015
Local food producers and community heros crowned at inaugural Urban Food Awards
Urban Food Awards 2015. Judges and Winners. Credit: Miles Willis.
New Shoots Food Guru leads the way to a better future for young people. The victorious group of locally based producers and food heros were crowned top of their individual categories at an awards bash at London’s world famous Borough Market last night (Thursday 24 September). Four other producers were also recognised for their outstanding contributions to London’s food scene.
Organised by City Hall and London Food Link in a bid to root out the best of the city’s local larder, the Urban Food Awards is a celebration of the very best food and drink produced by companies with 50 employees or fewer in the capital.
Following nominations from Londoners, the winners were chosen by a judging panel, chaired by London Food Board chair Rosie Boycott, which included chefs Rowley Leigh and Ollie Rowe, while The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, joined to help judge the cheese category.
The Mayor said: “I congratulate all the winners and those nominated for what has been a hugely successful competition. What it unquestionably shows is when it comes to top notch grub and high quality beer, nobody does it quite like London.”
Leading the way to a better future
The Urban Food Awards was also open to enterprises, organisations and individuals leading the way to a better food future. In particular the Food Growing Schools: London partnership would like to say a huge congratulations to Dee Laverty who won theNew Shoots Food Guru: category for her dedication to working with young people doing cooking and food growing activities through the Broadwaters Inclusive Learning Community in Tottenham. Additional award categories included:
New Shoots Food Guru: A person showing passion and brilliance in passing on cooking or food growing skills to children and other young people.
Food Hero: The cook, campaigner, retailer, whatever, who is leading the way towards better food for London.
Capital Growth’s Growing Enterprise: A community food garden becoming more self-sufficient with a scheme that shows money can grow on trees.
London Markets Initiative Krys Zasada Memorial Award: This year’s best activity to ensure one or more London markets will survive and thrive.
The Urban Food Awards is funded by Seeds of Change and the Mayor of London and delivered by the Plunkett Foundation and London Food Link, with the aim of helping social enterprises and privately-owned business to become more sustainable, while encouraging Londoners to buy locally grown food.
Keep Universal Infant Free School Meals in schools in England
In September 2014 the government introduced UIFSM in schools in England. There have recently been a number of reports in the media that the government are considering scrapping UIFSM to save money.
We are calling on the government to back UIFSM and not scrap it.
Sign the petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/107913
More information
In July 2013 the School Food Plan recommended to the coalition government that they introduce universal infant free school meals.
Evidence from pilot projects showed that while all children benefit from free school meals, the low-income children benefit the most. Nutritional intake improved dramatically and, academically, children at these schools quickly moved ahead of their peers elsewhere by almost a term. That’s why we applauded the government for having the vision to provide infants with free meals.
We need your help!
Having given schools over £175m to improve their kitchens, and encouraged the school workforce to make substantial changes to put it all in place, we believe the government is considering axing this ground-breaking policy.
We need your help to ensure the government honours its manifesto pledge and keeps universal infant free school meals. Please click here to sign our petition and show your support for the policy.
Why it matters
We need to protect this policy as it is not just children’s behaviour and attainment in school that benefits from UIFSM; health experts say it is a fundamental component of a wider child obesity strategy. It changes eating habits and improves children’s diet; packed lunches have on average three teaspoons more sugar than a school lunch and only 1% meet school food standards. It’s a fact that while 10% of children enter primary school obese, 20% leave obese, and diet-related illnesses cost the NHS £10 billion every year.
David Cameron acknowledged this distressing trend in July and said preventative health was key to improving the health of the nation. Taking away UIFSM is going to make the task of tackling obesity a great deal harder.
We also believe there is a strong economic case for keeping UIFSM. It stimulates the local economy with job creation in schools and catering companies, it saves parents £400 a year which can be spent elsewhere and brings wider benefits to the British food and farming supply chain.
Let your voice be heard
We need your help to ensure the government honours its manifesto pledge and keeps universal infant free school meals. Click here to sign our petition and add your name to the ever-growing list of voters who value this policy!
Thank you.
14 September 2015
The Food for Life programme is changing
Taken from the Soil Association Food for Life blog.
Over the summer we have been busy refreshing our offer to schools to reflect that Ofsted now expects pupils “to be able to make informed choices about healthy eating” and will look for evidence of this both within and outside of the classroom.
We have already been in touch with all our schools not funded by a local authority* to advise that from early October 2015, there will be a charge to be part of Food for Life. It may not be schools that have to meet this cost directly, there are a number of funding options available schools might like to consider, covered in our guide.
Previously, Food for Life was able to offer our School Awards programme for free through grant funding (from the Big Lottery Fund) but now that funding has run out, it’s important we build on the success of our work and continue to support schools to establish a positive food culture.
What’s new?
There are now two levels of access to the Schools Programme which are covered by our Food for Life ‘Membership’ package and our ‘Awards’ package. We have a host of new resources, training and webinars to support schools on their Food for Life journey. Every school achieving an award will also receive a site visit from one of our school food experts, giving schools valuable tips on how to demonstrate positive food culture to Ofsted and share their successes with parents and the wider community.
Find out more about each package and possible funding options in our quick guide.
Five reasons to start or continue on your journey with Food for Life:
Meet Ofsted core inspection requirements.
Meet DfE statutory School Food Standards for good nutrition.
Meet national cooking in the curriculum requirements.
Receive support to give pupils a positive lunchtime experience. Use food growing, farm links and even school farmers markets to enhance the curriculum and foster enterprise skills.
What happens next?
Due to these changes, for just a few weeks until early October, we are unable to accept new enrolments online. We are no longer awarding schools under our old programme but we will be in touch about how you can go about transferring your existing application over to the new scheme without losing any of your hard work collating criteria evidence.
If you would like to register your interest so you are first to know once our new portal has been launched, please pick up the phone and speak to us on 0117 314 5180 or email .
In the meantime, please take time to read our guide and consider which package is right for you.
* Any school in a commissioned area, will be receiving direct communication from their Local Programme Manager to advise what these changes mean for them, if any.
8 September 2015
Sow it. Grow it. Sell it!
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson buys produce from Trafalgar Infant School students at the Schools Marketplace at City Hall. Photo: Jane Baker/Garden Organic.
From strawberry jam to tomato ketchup, and the great British apple to winter salad bags – young entrepreneurs are bringing harvest time to the city. From September to December 2015, schools across London are rolling up their sleeves to take part in Grow Your Own Business, a city-wide celebration of school food growing, enterprise and learning, creating young entrepreneurs and healthier local communities. foodgrowingschools.org/events/gyobusiness
With the expert guidance of the Food Growing Schools: London partnership, students can learn the secret to starting their own school food growing business, raising money for their school, developing employment skills and selling healthy, home-grown food to and with their local community.
The highlight of the term sees the Mayor of London’s Food team opening the doors of the prestigious City Hall, for the Schools Marketplace, on Thursday 15th October 2015. Enterprising schools who plan for a bumper crop can apply to be one of only 15 schools to have a free marketplace stall! To get a flavour of previous events visit: www.flickr.com/groups/foodgrowingschools/pool.
Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food Board, said: “It’s fantastic to see the enthusiasm among teachers, children and parents around growing and eating fresh, healthy food in schools. Involving schoolchildren in growing food helps to foster a love of good, nutritious produce which is why the Mayor is supporting this initiative.”
Schools that succeed in securing a stall at the Schools Marketplace will be entered into our Marketplace Competition, celebrating the most enterprising schools with prizes being given out on the day. The event is organised with project partner, Capital Growth. The deadline to apply is Monday 5 October 2015, and stalls are limited: foodgrowingschools.org/events.
Why Grow Your Own Business? Grow Your Own Business offers schools the opportunity to learn about enterprise through growing and selling food, giving children the chance to learn new business and employment skills, across a range of subjects (e.g. maths, technology, PSHE). Enterprise activities can engage students of all ages and capabilities, even those children who aren’t interested in the garden or healthy eating.
The Autumn term also sees the launch of the big London Growathon. Students all across the city will join 10,000 other young London growers for the biggest school food growing challenge of the year – to feed your city: grow one thing, and tell a friend today! Schools and growing organisations can share their food growing activities on the Growathon website, and watch the numbers of young people involved grow – on the Growathon Totaliser. Ready. Set. Grow! Beginning in October 2015.
5 Sept 2015
We have lift off!
Rocket seeds launched successfully to International Space Station
On Wednesday 02 September, 2kg of rocket seeds were successfully launched into space, bound for their new home aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Watch a video of the launch here.
The seeds departed from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Soyuz 44S – the flight that also delivered European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and his crew to the ISS. The rocket and crew docked on Friday and the seeds were unloaded and placed safely on board. They will remain on the ISS for several months and return to Earth with astronaut Scott Kelly, currently planned for March 2016.
The seeds have been send to the ISS as part of Rocket Science, launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency. In case you haven’t yet signed up or heard of the project, we are giving up to 10,000 schools the chance to grow these seeds in 2016 and compare them with seeds that have remained on Earth. The project will enable young inquisitive minds to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future.
Official applications for teaching resource packs (suitable for all ages) containing the seeds will open on Monday 14 September 2015 for schools that have pre-registered their interest. Applications will then open for remaining schools on Monday 21 September 2015 if remaining packs are available.
You can still pre-register your interest on the RHS Campaign for School Gardening website up until Monday 14 September.
Two teaser resources, a literacy exercise for primary aged pupils and a science activity on genetics for secondary students will be made available soon to download.
Find out more and pre-register your interest in the project here.
We look forward to embarking on this exciting adventure with you. If you have any questions or queries please contact us at .
Follow the conversation on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience
3 September 2015
Jamie Oliver, Sustain and Leon join forces to take action on sugary sweetened drinks and fund children’s food initiatives.
Sustain and Jamie Oliver today launch a petition calling on Government to tax sugary drinks. The Children’s Health Fund is also launched by Jamie and Sustain, with funds coming from a self imposed sugary drinks levy by Jamie’s UK restaurants. Leon are the first group to join Jamie’s UK restaurants in adopting the levy contributing to the Children’s Health Fund.
Jamie Oliver and Sustain have launched a petition calling on the UK government to urgently introduce a sugary drinks tax. If over 100,000 people sign the petition then the Government must consider debating the issue in parliament.The petition can be found here – childrenshealthfund.org.uk
Doctors, dentists, dietitians and many other public health experts support a tax of just 7p per regular-sized can (20p per litre) of soft drink with added sugar. This could generate £1 billion per year which Jamie and Sustain believe should be ring-fenced to support much needed preventative work around childhood obesity and diet-related disease, and improving the environment they grow up in [1].
Jamie Oliver commented: “I’ve spoken to some of the brightest people in the medical world over the last few years and they all agree that action is urgently needed if we don’t want the NHS to crumble completely because of the costs of diet-related disease like type-2 diabetes. One doctor recently told me that diet-related disease is one of the defining crises of our time. We need the government to step up.”
Following the launch of his documentary Sugar Rush, Jamie and Sustain have also set up a Children’s Health Fund. The aim of the fund is to get restaurants and cafes to volunteer to put a 10p levy on their soft drinks with added sugar. The funds raised from the levy in participating restaurants will go to children’s health and food education initiatives. Jamie’s UK restaurants now all carry the levy, including his 41 strong group, Jamie’s Italian. Naturally fast food chain Leon, which began with a mission to bring good food to the high street, has already signed up, and other restaurants are in final discussions.
John Vincent, Leon co-founder and CEO, explained “Since we started Leon in 2004 we have been helping people eat a diet low in sugar. In that time, we’ve seen people and companies become even more addicted to the white stuff. It’s a human crisis as well as an economic one. I hope Leon is the first of many restaurants to join Jamie in adding a 10p levy to sugary drinks and create this positive change. We’re very interested to hear our customers’ views on whether this is the right way to do so.”
Sugary drinks are often high in calories but of limited nutritional value, and many health experts are increasingly concerned about their contribution to weight gain and type-2 diabetes [2]. Terrifyingly, one third of our kids now leave primary school overweight or obese. Tooth decay is the most common reason that children aged five to nine are admitted to hospital – 26,000 a year for multiple extractions under anaesthetic – and type-2 diabetes is costing the NHS around £9 billion a year [3].
Ben Reynolds, Sustain, added “We want everyone to sign this petition to get Government to take action and introduce this duty on sugary drinks. In the meantime while they are dithering, we are really excited that the restaurant sector is taking the lead, showing that it can be done, and we are pleased to be helping them to set up the Children’s Health Fund to make sure that the money raised will make a difference to children across the UK.”
The government petition can be found at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/106651
For more information on the Children’s Health Fund see www.childrenshealthfund.org.uk
