School-meals provider Chartwells has sent out 200,000 surveys, targeted at 12 different UK regions, to assess how parents feel about the quality of British school dinners.

Topics of the survey include: children’s eating behaviours at home and at school, what parents' children like or dislike about school meals, and questions about the quality, taste, choice and value of meals provided in local schools.

As an incentive, at 1,250 schools where Chartwells operates, children who return completed surveys will be rewarded with a range of special treats during National School Meals Week including free school meals.

'National School Meals Week is a great platform to encourage more students to enjoy school meals. It also provides us with the perfect opportunity to ask thousands of parents about the food we serve their children, enabling us to evolve our offer and develop new concepts in line with students' needs,' said Robin Mills, managing director of Chartwells.

Chartwells, which currently serves 350,000 meals to children across its Local Authority school contracts every week, said the results of the survey will be released shortly.