Michael Gove gets it right

[taxman]

At last, someone is doing something about changing our children's diets in school.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/17/michael-gove-school-meals-fatty-foods

 

"But the new rules – which are a simplified version of the existing school food code introduced under the previous Labour government – will only apply to new academies and free schools yet to open, because of the legal complications of inserting clauses into the contracts of the academies that have opened since 2010."

 

"The new regulations retain many of the health and nutrition regulations adopted in 2008 and 2009, including a ban on fatty snacks such as crisps, a restriction on the serving of fried food to two lunches a week, and the promotion of water and milk instead of sugary drinks."

 

Labour introduced rules after the outcry after Jamie Oliver's TV programme. They covered all state schools.

 

Gove removed the need for food standards from all his free schools which provoked much opposition from both Oliver, nutritionists and non-free schools (in effect non-free were having to bear the costs of providing new healthy menus but free schools weren't). Now he has slightly reversed his decision, but is still allowing free schools already created to get away with serving whatever they want.

 

Maybe he should have just applied the previous rules to all schools irrespective of their status instead of trying to give financial advantages to his pet project schools.