SOMERSET NEWS: Thousands of free school meals being dished up

SOMERSET schools will be successfully serving up over 15,000 free infant school meals a day from this term after new Government legislation came into force.

Somerset County Council worked closely with schools to ensure they were fully compliant with the new legislation and able to provide free nutritional school meals to all children in reception, Year One and Year Two from this September.

Only 30 per cent of schools had kitchens already in place leading to a major programme of investment from schools by the Department for Education and Somerset County Council over the last year.

The council’s children and families spokesman at County Hall, Cllr Frances Nicholson, said: “We are delighted to have met the Government’s requirement that all schools in Somerset can serve free nutritional infant school meals from this September.

“The county council and schools invested over £750,000 to increase the capacity of a number of production kitchens and are creating 8 new kitchens.

“We will also be using local and regional suppliers and distributors as much as possible, which is good news for the local economy.”

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