The Health of the Next Generation – Good Food for Children reviews evidence on three existing schemes designed to improve childhood nutrition, health, and wellbeing; the Free School Meal Programme, National School Breakfast Programme, and the Healthy Start Voucher scheme.
The report finds that by expanding access to these schemes the Government has the opportunity to support a generation of children to lead healthy, happy, and productive lives through to adulthood.
Currently, children and adolescents in the UK typically have suboptimal diets, and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to face barriers in accessing nutritious food, leading to diets that meet fewer dietary UK recommendations.
Dr Camilla Kingdon, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:
There is something profoundly disturbing about the picture of a hungry child struggling through the school day. The reality of modern Britain is that to feed your children a healthy diet is a challenge, and we only expect that to become more of a problem as the cost-of-living crisis continues.
Paediatricians know first-hand the impact hunger has on children not only today but well into the future. Today we have offered clear policy solutions to those in power and we hope they heed these calls to ensure no child goes hungry in Britain today.
The report is a joint collaboration between the College and the Faculty of Public Health, Royal Society of Medicine, Royal Society for Public Health, Association of Directors of Public Health, School and Public Health School Nurses Associations and the British Association for Child and Adolescent Public Health.