Concerns remain over free school meal portion sizes

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

Councillors who raised concerns about the size of school dinner portions say they have not been given a detailed breakdown of meal sizes to review ahead of new Welsh Government regulations coming into force.

Following widespread concern that the size of Universal Primary Free School Meals (UPFSM) was leaving older pupils in junior school last year hungry, the Welsh Government is set to approve new national portion size guidelines on October 7.

They are expected to replace the sliding scale – that allows schools to serve slightly larger portions to juniors – with specific new guidelines giving infant pupils half a standard adult portion each day and junior pupils three-quarters of a standard adult portion.

Complaints

Councillors on Flintshire’s Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee originally took this issue up in November with school catering provider NEWydd following complaints from parents across the county.

This week councillors on the committee were aggrieved when a report from NEWydd on school portion sizes failed to provide a breakdown of servings to help them determine whether pupils were receiving enough food.

“As you’ve stated in your report, what you’re currently doing is one portion size for all primary learners,” said Cllr Carolyn Preece. “That means the infant children who are very young are getting the same size portion as junior children who are just about to go to high school.

“Welsh Government is proposing different portion sizes for infants and juniors soon so my question is why haven’t the new draft proposals been brought to this committee? Is NEWydd prepared to implement them in early 2026 and can we request a comprehensive breakdown of current portion sizes and the proposed ones so we can assess whether adjustments are likely to be required?

“I am concerned that the portion sizes we are offering currently are not adequate for our juniors.”

Cllr Dave Mackie echoed Cllr Preece’s issue.

“We are all concerned about child obesity,” he said. “But this committee has been concerned about children complaining of hunger when they come home from school.

“How can we ensure they are getting enough food at lunch?”

Salad bar

Changes made by NEWydd this September include the roll-out of its salad bar for pupils to increase the size of their lunch – something not expected to be included within the Welsh Government guidelines. Portion sizes at the moment remain on the standards sliding scale.

“We are fully compliant with current regulations and have made changes to meet many of the proposals in the Welsh Government consultation, but not all,” said NEWydd Managing Director Steve Jones.

“We are now meeting the proposed guidelines in terms of the increased portions of vegetables available each day and the portions of meat and restricting processed meat. We have already improved our offer to meet various regulations that are likely to go through in the new Welsh Government proposals.

“In regards portion sizes in general we are employing the existing sliding scale, so junior portion sizes are larger than infants on that scale. But we have exceeded the regulations in some ways too.

“We first trialled introducing the salad bar or trolley for pupils 18 months ago. That was not part of the guidelines that Welsh Government required, it was just something we knew we could do to improve the service for the pupils of Flintshire.

“Last year we served three million meals in Flintshire. Getting that menu right for everybody is the biggest challenge.”

School meal portion sizes across Wales will be updated by early 2026 if Welsh Government passes the new proposals on October 7.