Jamie Oliver: Sugar tax could fund school meals

Jamie Oliver has said the millions being raised done the alleged sweetener taxation should beryllium utilized to widen the proviso of escaped schoolhouse meals.

The cook and nutrient campaigner wants astatine slightest 800,000 much children to benefit.

He was instrumental successful persuading the authorities successful 2018 to enforce the levy connected brushed drinks with precocious sweetener content.

Initially the funds raised were utilized for programmes to tackle puerility obesity but present Oliver wants them to beryllium diverted to the schoolhouse meals programme.

As it stands, successful England and Wales children aged 4 to 16 are lone eligible if they unrecorded successful a household with an yearly income of little than £7,400. Oliver said each children surviving successful households receiving Universal Credit should beryllium included successful the scheme. In England alone, this amounts to astir 800,000 children.

The levy raised £336m successful 2019-2020, the twelvemonth aft it was archetypal introduced and Oliver said that "if you look astatine the wealth raised from the sugary drinks tax, it's not acold disconnected what's needed" to money those other meals.

He said specified a determination would assistance teachers, saying: "If you've got a mates of kids coming successful [who are] not fed, that affects program A, program B and program C of a teacher's hour."

"It's similar passive smoking. We're talking astir each children being affected by immoderate of the kids possibly being disruptive oregon sleeping oregon immoderate different benignant of carnage that goes on with the poorness of hunger."

Oliver has agelong been campaigning connected kid nutrition and the request to amended the prime and availability of schoolhouse dinners. His 2005 Feed Me Better run led to the authorities pledging £280m to tackle the schoolhouse meals programme successful England.

On Tuesday, Oliver brought these issues into absorption arsenic helium guest-edited the Today programme connected BBC Radio 4.

As portion of the programme, erstwhile Chancellor George Osborne was interviewed and helium said helium was "disappointed" much was not done during his clip successful authorities to tackle puerility obesity

Speaking to Nick Robinson, Mr Osborne credited the cook with having been "very influential" successful bringing astir the brushed drinks levy successful 2016.

The erstwhile Chancellor besides added that if helium was inactive successful authorities helium would present much measures to tackle kid obesity, specified arsenic a prohibition connected junk nutrient TV adverts and an enlargement of the levy to see non-sugary products.

"That inactive has not been implemented. To my mind, that's precise disappointing," Mr Osborne said.

He added: "Conservatives should not beryllium acrophobic of sensible usage of authorities to amended people's wellness because, by the way, that besides reduces dependency connected nationalist services down the road."

Sir Tony Blair, who was premier curate erstwhile Oliver archetypal started his campaign, said greater authorities absorption connected children's wellness was "absolutely fundamental".

He added: "I honestly don't deliberation there's thing much important for the aboriginal of the state but to marque definite we woody with this - aboriginal years acquisition and wellbeing.

"For the sums of wealth you're going to walk connected this aboriginal years, if you truly person the volition to bash it, I committedness you having been successful government, you could find the wealth indispensable to bash this."

Speaking connected the programme, Dr Camilla Kingdon, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, said that the authorities needs to look astatine regulating the tract of babe nutrient which tin incorporate exceedingly precocious amounts of sugar.

A azygous pouch of babe nutrient "could person arsenic overmuch arsenic two-thirds of what adults should person successful a azygous day", Dr Kingdon said.

She added that precocious rates of obesity spot 1 successful 3 children leaving superior schoolhouse overweight oregon obese. "We request to get babe nutrition right. The wellness of the federation depends connected this," Dr Kingdon said.

As is present contented implicit the festive period, Radio 4's Today programme has invited 7 impermanent editors to instrumentality implicit the programme this week. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Sir Jeremy Fleming, the Director of GCHQ, volition beryllium sitting successful the editor's seat successful the coming days - you tin perceive to the afloat week of programmes connected BBC Sounds.