Polling of more than 1,400 state school leaders finds strong support for external verification of compliance of the new school food standards, new polling commissioned by School Food Matters on behalf of the School Food Review reveals. 
 
School leaders are calling for stronger monitoring of the school food standards, with more than two-thirds (68%) saying the standards would be more effective if compliance was independently checked.
 
The survey of headteachers and senior leaders in both primary and secondary state schools across England, conducted by Teacher Tapp, comes as the government publishes its response to the public consultation on updating the school food standards. The government also says that robust monitoring plans will be put in place to ensure updated standards translate into better food for children. 

The school food standards set out the requirements schools must meet when providing food and drink to children. The government has updated the standards to bring them in line with current nutritional guidance and strengthened requirements around vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, fibre, pulses, processed meat, sugar, salt and saturated fat. 

The new monitoring and accountability framework includes requiring schools to publish their school food policy and lunch menus online, and nominate a governor with responsibility for school food. The Department for Education has also committed to working with the Food Standards Agency on an approach to monitoring school food with more detail to be shared in the coming months.
 
The School Food Review has called for a framework that brings together transparency, governance, independent verification and practical support for schools to help ensure stronger requirements translate into more nutritious food for children. 
 
The polling suggests school leaders themselves support proper monitoring of the updated standards. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of state school leaders said they would welcome external verification of compliance in their own school. 

Just 1% of school leaders reported already having a school food policy in place. However, more than half (54%) said they expect publishing one to be easy, suggesting schools see new transparency requirements as achievable in practice. 
 
The findings also highlight the importance of providing practical support alongside accountability. The majority (57%) of school leaders said a template school food policy would be useful, while 37% wanted examples of good policies and the same proportion wanted training for governors with responsibility for school food. 
 
Myles Bremner, Senior Programme Manager at the School Food Review and former Director of the School Food Plan, says: “The introduction of the school food standards in 2015 was a landmark moment for children's health. Updating the standards to reflect the latest nutritional guidance is welcome and long overdue. However, standards alone do not improve children’s diets.  
 
"We are encouraged to see the government acting on its promise to integrate monitoring and compliance into plans for the revised standards. A robust framework will be essential to ensuring the standards are implemented consistently across the country and ending the postcode lottery in the quality of school food. The government’s priority must be ensuring the updated standards deliver better food for every child in every school.”