I HAVE had a few vitriolic emails this week from constituents outraged by yet another intrusion of the “nanny state”, with the Government seeking to ban packed lunches from schools because it disapproves of what parents put in them.

I stress that it is not the policy of the Government to interfere in schools but rather to let schools make such decisions for themselves in accordance with their own circumstances. That the Government should have a policy, however, and offer support and guidance on it to schools, strikes me as perfectly sensible.

On July 12, the Department for Education published the School Food Plan, commissioned by Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, and written by the founders of the Leon restaurant chain, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent.

I summarise the Government’s policy as follows: l We want to see more children eating school lunches and fewer having packed lunches in order that more children feel healthier and more energetic throughout the day.

l This plan is designed to increase the quality and takeup of school meals and to divert some of the £1bn that parents currently spend on packed lunches, back into the school lunch system.

l We would like to see every school develop a strong food culture that will inspire a love of good food in children and boost both their academic performance and help them to lead healthy lives.

To achieve this we are investing £16m in the next two years, including £11.8m to help schools that are struggling and £3.2m to ensure a healthy breakfast is available for children who arrive at school hungry.

We are going to introduce new food standards based on nutrition, offer practical advice to schools and encourage teachers to eat with pupils. We also want cooking to be on the curriculum for all children up to the age of 14.

Now, there is no denying that there is an element of the “nanny” in this agenda. I fear that things have come to such a pass that we really do need some of Nanny’s help. Many children rarely sit down at home and eat a family meal at the table, rather than just snacking in front of the telly. Schools can make good this omission in terms of the conversational skills, standards and manners which these children would otherwise miss out on.

Another problem is the lack of concentration and hyperactive behaviour that is caused by some additives in junk food and sweet drinks. Rather more urgent is the scale of the obesity epidemic that our country is now facing.

The Government would be irresponsible if it were just to stand idly by as the nation slowly eats its way to ill-health, and ultimately to death, with huge consequent costs on the taxpayers and the NHS.

In 1980 only six per cent of the population were too fat, today it has risen to 27 percent, and almost 20 per cent of children are already obese by the time they leave primary school.

I think that changing the culture in schools will make an important contribution to addressing this problem.