UK: Free fruit scheme extended to thousands of children

The UK government has pledged to extend its child health initiative, with the provision of free fruit for an extra 200,000 school children aged between four and six on a daily basis. The National School Fruit Scheme has been trialled in 500 schools across the country, and 99% of teachers reported that they considered the provision of fruit to be a good way to improve health. Furthermore, 20% of teachers reported that it also had a positive effect on children’s' attention levels in the classroom.

November 28, 2001

The UK government has pledged to extend its child health initiative, with the provision of free fruit for an extra 200,000 school children aged between four and six on a daily basis.

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The National School Fruit Scheme has been trialled in 500 schools across the country, and 99% of teachers reported that they considered the provision of fruit to be a good way to improve health. Furthermore, 20% of teachers reported that it also had a positive effect on children’s’ attention levels in the classroom.

The extension of the scheme will be funded by £42m (US$59.5m) from the National Lottery, and the government hopes that by 2004 two million children will have benefited from the initiative.