Bremner & Co are delighted to have been commissioned by Newham Council to to write a ‘think piece’ about the financial pressures, incentives and counter-incentives that shape the food offer in secondary schools. The research project emerged from the council’s wider ‘We Are Food Secure 11-19’ project, which sets out to understand the experiences of young people in the borough, who sometimes receive less attention than other age groups, and to tailor interventions especially for them.
The research involved interviews with eleven stakeholders representing a diverse range of expertise within the secondary school food system. The resulting report, published last week, explores the financial factors shaping food offerings in secondary schools and the extent to which counter incentives undermine the availability of healthy food supporting students’ food security.
The report forms part of a suite of outputs from Newham Council, including a report on improving food security for young people in Newham, a report on young people’s views and four other briefing papers covering a range of topics like food growing and youth work. These resources can all be accessed on the Association for Young People’s Health webpage.
Newham Council hosted an event in celebration of the launch of these resources, at which Myles Bremner (CEO at Bremner & Co) was pleased to be invited to speak during one of the panel discussions. Attendees also heard from young people speaking about their experiences of food security both in and out of school, and were invited to eat delicious lemon drizzle cake, banana bread and oaty breakfast muffins made by food technology students from School 21.