Sustainable food procurement initiative - National School Fruit Scheme
Case Study: National School Fruit SchemeRegion: West Midlands
Organisation: Department of Health
Description: The National School Fruit Scheme is part of the 5 A DAY programme to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Under the Scheme, all four to six year old children in state schools will be entitled to a free piece of fruit or vegetable each school day (currently either an apple, banana, pear or satsuma). This will eventually entail distributing around 440 million pieces of fruit to over 2 million four to seven year olds in some 18,000 schools across England each year.
A series of pilot schemes throughout the country began in autumn 2000, to identify the most effective way to implement the scheme with the minimum burden and disruption to schools. The intention was to develop a robust, practical, national scheme, which has a positive impact on the whole school community.
Following successful piloting, the Scheme is being extended throughout England region by region, with funding of £42m from the lottery-funded New Opportunities Fund. The expansion began with the West Midlands in summer term 2002, followed by London in the autumn term, the North West in spring 2003 and will continue with the East Midlands in summer 2003. Subsequent regions will join at the approximate rate of one per school term.
Note. DoH is looking to maximise the opportunities for UK and local growers to supply to the NSFS by expanding the range of produce available under the NSFS, including vegetables. This means a lot more potential for domestic supply although this is not the primary aim.
Benefits:
During its development and expansion, the Scheme is being carefully evaluated with 3 key aspects in mind:
- Farm to school gate ( supply and distribution mechanisms)
- School gate to child's hand ( in-school storage and distribution)
- Child's hand to mouth (consumption and changing eating habits)
Key findings of these pilots included:
- 99% of schools thought the reliability of the fruit deliveries was either excellent or acceptable
- 93% of schools thought the overall quality of the fruit was good
- The majority of children were positive about the Scheme
- School staff regarded the Scheme as: a way of improving children's health (99%) and a supplement to children's diets (99%)
- 97% of schools regarded the Scheme as a support to teaching and learning about healthy eating
- Giving the fruit out in individual class groups has the advantage of providing a social time and a time for learning
- More than half of the survey schools (55%) had noticed an improvement in the ethos and atmosphere in the classes involved in the Scheme.
Lessons learned during implementation:
- In the West Midlands over 90% of Key Stage 1 schools have taken up the scheme.
- Although the scheme does not focus on local procurement, attempts were made during the West Midlands pilot to ensure that local producers and suppliers had an opportunity to tender.
- The end result was that the distribution of fruit was offered on a local education authority basis, but the supply of fruit was made regionally. · Our knowledge of local procurement and regulatory issues is now a lot better than two years ago.
- Collaboration of small producers is still a problem. Many individual producers phone up, but as yet have not found a way to collaborate with each other to provide regular supplies
Future Developments:
- The scheme is being expanded to take in carrots. Other homegrown vegetables are being piloted and this might expand the possibilities for local produce.
- Consideration is being given to piloting two areas on an LEA basis (one rural, one urban) to encourage local suppliers to bid.
- A public procurement of local foods conference is being planned for early summer to encourage the procurement of regional and local foods where appropriate.
- Expanding the Scheme to Key Stage 2 and 3 may be a possibility
Further information: www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/FiveADay/fs/en
Page last modified:
23 September 2005
Page published: 1 May 2003