A new scheme will invest £4 million into schools with a higher-than-average rate of free school meals to help plug the gap between food insecurity and healthy eating.
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00:00Schools and young people's groups really need extra support to help children thrive.
00:07Making sure young people have a healthy diet is a massive part of enabling them to have a successful start in life
00:15and to go on to learn well and to take some of those habits about fresh fruit and vegetables
00:21and making sure that you have a nutritious and a balanced diet through into adult life.
00:26About a third of adults will have their regular five a day.
00:29So to see that that's not replicated in children or even better you'd expect for children is really surprising.
00:35And this is all about balance.
00:37And so maybe some of those foods that are less healthy and that are high in fat or high in sugar
00:42have become a more regular part of the diet than they should be.
00:46We're stepping in with some funding to help in 400 areas of the country with this additional money
00:54on top of the grant programme that we're already providing because we know how important it is.
00:59For some families a healthy diet can be out of reach.
01:04It's thinking about all the demands that we've had over the last couple of years with the cost of living crisis.
01:11Trying to juggle all of that and make sure that you're providing your family with the best food you can
01:16is really difficult for some people.
01:19So let's not underestimate how challenging that is.
01:23So that's really where we can intervene.
01:25There are ways round the challenge I think of cost of living
01:29and there are hopefully really fun and exciting opportunities for kids to learn more about fruit and veg
01:35and to feel inspired at home to do more with their own families as well.
01:39But I can't stress enough the importance of the food environment
01:43and people being able to make healthier choices.
01:46You know they're exposed to lots of fast food, lots of food that's high in salt, sugar and fat.
01:52We can't choose healthy food if it's not there.
01:56So the food environment has a really critically important role to play.