Roll-out of free school meals and childcare must not compromise on quality if we are to safeguard the health of those most disadvantaged. This is the message from senior leaders in the Building a Healthier Wales Coordination group. 

The group, established in 2019, aims to maximise the impact of the collective agencies that make up its membership, in order to improve health and well-being and reduce inequalities. 

The Building a Healthier Wales Co-ordination Group is a non-statutory coalition of strategic leaders representing organisations and strategic perspectives from public, private and third sectors with a diversity of representation across Wales.  Members include representatives from Local Government, Health Boards, Public Health Wales, Welsh Local Government Association, Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Government, Social Care Wales, Sport Wales, the police, the CBI, housing and voluntary sector. 

The findings, produced at the request of the Minister for Health and Social Services, will be important for local authorities as they continue to implement Welsh Government policies.  It is vital that the implementation of policies such as the extension of early year’s childcare and the provision of free school meals to all primary pupils does not widen, and ideally narrows, existing inequalities.   

In their report, they recommend actions to support implementation – such as: 

• Ensuring that uptake of free school meals is high and provision is inclusive 
• Providing opportunities to play and socialise within the setting 
• Learning from other out-of-school food provision programmes 
• Developing sustainable provision which supports local foundational economies over the long term 
• Embedding fair working practices in school catering 

Further information