Next month will see the West Midlands rollout completed to 2,300 schools, taking in nearly 300,000 children, and will include schools in Shropshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Coventry and Solihull.

And this week, public health minister Yvette Cooper announced that London will be the next area to benefit from a full-scale rollout starting in September. This means that by year-end, some 600,000 children – 25 per cent of the total four-to-seven-year-old age range – in England will be receiving a free piece of fruit each day.

'We are delighted that the scheme is fully underway in the West Midlands and with the positive reports that are coming back to us on the quality of the fruit being supplied,' said Doug Henderson of the Fresh Produce Consortium, which was instrumental in getting the scheme set up. 'We are also delighted with Yvette Cooper's decision to select London as the next region in which the scheme will be rolled out.' Under the scheme, which is being funded by £42 million of New Opportunities Fund lottery money, children are offered apples, pears, satsumas and bananas. Worldwide Fruit is supplying the top fruit, Greencell the citrus and Fyffes-Capespan the bananas required by the schools. In the West Midlands, fruit is being delivered by six local distributors: Arthur Brett Catering, AJ Edwards, Minor Weir & Willis, Redbridge Produce and Flowers, Lambert Brothers (Farm Produce) and MJ Morris & Son.

Topics