A SMALL increase in the price of a school meal has been agreed by Hampshire County Council and will come into effect from April 1.

An increase of five pence is being introduced to meet the rising cost of providing school meals, and takes the price per meal to £2.15. This continues to represent good value for money for a two-course, freshly-cooked school meal, acording to county councillor Keith Mans.

Mr Mans, the authority’s executive lead member for children’s services, said: “We’re very proud of the high standard of school meals that our catering service (HC3S) provides using locally sourced produce.

“A healthy lunch at school contributes significantly to a child’s wellbeing and their capacity to learn through to the end of the school day.”

He continued: “I am keen that school meals remain affordable but we must balance this against the increasing cost of providing those meals, including higher charges for ingredients.

“It is my view that the proposal to raise the cost of each meal by small increments, over time, will avoid sudden, dramatic price hikes further down the line and ensure that the price rise is manageable.”

More than 70,000 healthy school meals are served in Hampshire’s primary and secondary schools daily. All HC3S school meals meet the Department for Education’s rules for healthy school dinners and HC3S has worked with schools, pupils and parents for more than 20 years to create menus that are varied and follow the guiding principles of healthy eating.

Menus also adhere to the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group’s recommendations to remove more than 70 additives and colourings that could affect children’s behaviour.

The decision to increase the school meal price was taken at Mr Mans’ decision day last Wednesday.