Should school gates be closed at lunchtimes?

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has received backing from another well-known chef for his support for kids to stay in school over lunchtime. Prue Leith, who is chairman of the Schools Food Trust, told BBC's Today programme, that harsh measures were needed to improve take-up of healthier school meals.

'We are saying to heads, look at the dining environment, make the lunch hour longer or stagger classes – there are lots of ways of doing this. One of the things that is stopping children having school dinners is the fact there is a chippy just down the road. Head teachers tend to think it is not their business to tell children where to go to lunch. They are a bit nervous of parents thinking, you are infringing my child's right.'

Leith, who was speaking at the launch of a new campaign to boost school dinners said that experience showed that parents were often behind school initiatives to reduce children's access to fast food at lunchtime.

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