THOUSANDS of children in Hull are to benefit after plans to slash the cost of school meals to 50p were approved.
The city's health and wellbeing board has approved funding to reduce the price of school meals from £1 to just 50p at every primary school in the city.
Members of the board voted unanimously in favour of the move to tackle childhood obesity and help thousands of working families who miss out on free school meals for their children.
Now, talks will get under way with headteachers in an attempt to introduce the 50p charge as soon as September.
Councillor Colin Inglis, chairman of the health and wellbeing board, said: "We have had lots of discussion about the impact of poverty and hidden poverty.
"Of all the things we have done as a board, this is probably going to have more impact on that than all the rest put together."
The price cut was approved after figures showed more than 36 per cent of children aged ten and 11 and almost 23 per cent of four and five-year-olds in Hull are overweight or obese.
The board will now allocate £577,000 from a £2m underspend in its budget to subsidise the cost of school meals.
Some headteachers are thought to be resistant to the idea of reducing the cost of school meals, fearing it could interfere with the public premium, the amount of financial support schools get to support disadvantaged pupils.
However, Cllr Inglis, the former leader of Hull City Council who pioneered a free school meals programme for three years before it was scrapped in 2008 when the Liberal Democrats came into power, said: "All they have to do, pretty much, is say the price is 50p.
"The only issue is the potential impact on the Pupil Premium. But it should have no impact whatsoever, as we are not yet suggesting meals should be free."
Julia Wheldon, Hull's director of public health, said: "Of course, headteachers will have to support us if we want to go forward with this.
"We will need to start dialogue and consultation with headteachers about how we move forward."
Board member Councillor Rosemary Pantelakis, who represents Marfleet, said she was in "complete support" of the move.
She said: "The people who will benefit from this are those in receipt of working tax credit.
"It will be a huge advantage to those working and, essentially, the working poor.
"I think it is absolutely the right way to spend this money."
Councillor Andy Dorton, who represents the Avenues, said, while he supported the idea of cutting the cost of school meals, the wider problem of people's attitude to food should also be addressed.
Cllr Inglis agreed, saying: "This will do a lot for seven to 11 year-olds. People who are in their mid-20s and still don't have access to healthy nutritious food, this won't make a blind bit of difference to them."
From September, all children aged between five and seven will be entitled to free school meals after the measure was announced by Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg. Children in reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be entitled to a free lunch in a move designed to teach healthy eating habits and boost attainment.
Although parents in Hull could be paying just 50p for a school meal for their children, families in the East Riding will still have to pay £2.20 for one meal for one child every day.
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