Nursery World - Nursery group calls for funding to improve access to high-quality nursery food for vulnerable children

The London Early Years Foundation is calling on the Government to invest in nursery food provision to support families living in poverty and improve young children's health.

The London Early Years Foundation is calling for funding for nursery food and nutritional standards in early years settings PHOTO Isabelle Johnson/London Early Years Foundation

The nursery group, which runs 39 social enterprise nurseries and pre-schools across the capital, says the move would offer 'lifelines' to vulnerable families experiencing food insecurity.

LEYF also criticised the Government's new food strategy white paper for containing ‘virtually no new measures’ to tackle the rising cost of food, child hunger and obesity.

Data released by The Food Foundation last month shows a 57 per cent increase in the proportion of households cutting back on food or missing meals altogether in just three months, including 2.6 million under-18s.

Five of LEYF’s nurseries are providing free food to families, either through running food banks, or in other ways.

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