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LEARNING RECIPES FOR LIFE VITAL TO BEATING OBESITY – ED BALLS
04 February 2009- New £3.3m package to recruit specialist teaching assistants and train staff to run practical cooking lessons – - £53m given to secondary schools for new cooking facilities –- Minister calls on supermarkets to help get families cooking -Ed Balls today announced the next steps in getting the nation’s children cooking – with measures to get them preparing meals at home and pave the way for compulsory practical classes in secondary schools from 2011.Mr Balls said it was it was not just down to schools to teach young people to cook - but that parents needed to be helped and encouraged to teach their children how to prepare meals from scratch.He confirmed that he is already working with Aldi and Asda, while holding discussions with other major supermarkets, to promote the Government’s Real Meals cookbook and get families cooking together – but he said the whole supermarket and food industry had a vital role to play.Mr Balls said equipping children with basic cooking skills for life was central to combating obesity. Experts say without any intervention, 90 percent of today’s children could be overweight or obese and at risk from serious diseases by 2050.He also set out the next steps in training up a new generation of skilled and motivated staff to run practical cooking classes and building top class new facilities – to redress the exodus of home economics teachers when many schools stopped classes in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr Balls marked the announcement by preparing lunch for 20 primary school children from the cookbook, with Michelin-star chef Phil Vickery and resident chef Hari Nagara at the Cinnamon Club in London.Today’s full £56.3m package is: • £2.1m new investment over the next two years to recruit and train 750 specialist higher-level teaching assistants to help run classes;
• £1.2m for a new continuous professional development programme for train 400 existing teachers to teach practical cooking classes – to increase the number of teachers trained to deliver food technology;
• £53m for new practical cooking spaces in schools – with £300,000 grants each over the next two years for 170 secondary schools. It is the first tranche of funding from the £150m announced in September 2008 for 515 secondary schools which have no facilities at present – the Government is writing to local authorities today to urge them to bid for the remaining schools. Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: “Teaching children how to prepare basic recipes from scratch is fun to do at school and at home. It helps young people get the skills to go on to cook healthily for life.“Many adults don’t cook properly or pass on cooking skills to young people – because they feel they don’t have time; have never learnt how; or feel that proper cooking is too expensive. Celebrity chef cookbooks and TV shows have never been more popular but far too many people see cooking as entertainment not something they actually do day-in day-out. “Obesity is the biggest long-term health issue facing this country. It is hard to believe but the experts say that nine out of ten of children today could be obese or overweight by 2050. Cooking in schools is an important part of the wider the Change4Life movement to get families eating well, moving more and living longer – but it is just the start. “Today’s measures are vital in gearing up secondary schools to offer practical cooking lessons from 2012 – putting expert and well-trained staff and good facilities in place across the board. It is extraordinary that there are still 515 secondaries with no facilities to teaching cooking, including 150 mainly boys-only schools which do not teach cooking at all –that is something our big investment is going to tackle.
“But I’ve always been clear that the onus to pass on cooking skills should not just fall on teachers. This is not about telling families what to do and what to eat. The fact is that if parents never prepare or eat meals together, then we risk children growing up uninterested in cooking or living healthily.“That’s why we now need to take our Real Meals campaign further. We need supermarkets and the food industry on board to help learning how to cook properly a normal part of growing up.”Today’s announcement follows ministers’ confirmation in January last year that from 2011, food technology lessons, including hands-on practical cooking lessons, will be compulsory for every 11 to 14-year-old – the first time that cooking has ever been compulsory in schools. They also committed £2.5 million a year to cover or subsidise the cost of cooking ingredients for children on free school meals. Last September, Ed Balls also announced £150 million ringfenced capital investment to build food technology teaching areas in secondary schools currently without facilities and £750,000 specifically to recruit and train 800 new food technology teachers. Over 350,000 Real Meal cookbooks, including healthy versions of old favourites from spaghetti bolognese to lamb rogan josh, have now been distributed to free to 11-year-olds since the cookbook was published in September.The Government launched the Change4Life movement last month. Through Change4Life, the Government is aiming to start a lifestyle revolution to help everyone eat more healthily and be more active. It is part of the Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives strategy published in January 2008 which aims to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels over the next 12 years.
Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'
1. Ministers announced in January that from 2011, every 11 to 14-year-old will be given, hands-on cooking lessons in how to make cheap, healthy dishes from simple, fresh ingredients – the first time that cooking has been compulsory in schools. £2.5m a year will be invested to cover or subsidise the cost of cooking ingredients for children on free school meals. 2. In September, ministers announced: o £150 million ringfenced funding to build food technology teaching areas, targeting the 515 secondary schools currently with no facilities. The Government’s £22billion overall capital programme, including the Building Schools for the Future (BSF), will pay for refurbishing facilities in other schools;o £750,000 to recruit and train 800 new food technology teachers who will specialise in cooking. That’s on top 4000 primary teachers trained to teach cooking by March 2008 under the existing ‘Food in Schools’ Programme and over 2000 secondary teachers trained to teach cooking under the Licence to Cook Programme by March 2009.o The free Real Meals – Simple Cooking Made Easy, cookbook. It is available online for anyone to download and copies will be made available for every 11-year-old in England. The recipes, developed by the British Nutrition Foundation, were nominated by the general public earlier this year. 3. Cooking is already compulsory in primary schools and the new food technology curriculum for 11-14 year olds introduced this term puts renewed focus on practical cooking skills – unlike the old lessons. Every secondary school pupil is also entitled to take part in the Licence to Cook Programme, where students learn to cook and understand the principles of diet and nutrition, health and safety and wise food shopping. 4. Today’s announcement is part of the Government’s wider fight against childhood obesity: • The Change4Life movement launched on 3 January with the aim to help everyone eat well, move more and live longer. For more information on Change4Life visit http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life or call 0300 123 3434.• The Government’s Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives strategy published in January, aims to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels over the next 12 years;• The Government has invested over £650 million in school food up to 2011. Junk food has been banned forever, with tough additional nutrition standards coming into primary schools from this month and secondaries next year.• The Government is investing £2.4billion up to 2011 to continue transforming school sport – already 90% of school children do at least two hours PE and sport in school - up from just a quarter six years ago. Three million young people took part in the first ever National School Sports Week in June and 1,500 elite teenage athletes competed in the first UK School Games.Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Press Notice 2009/0024
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