Schools 'locked in bad food contracts'

Binding contracts with private caterers may be stopping hundreds of state schools from following Jamie Oliver's advice and improving their food. As many as 450 schools built under the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) could be locked into longterm deals.

Parents are worried these contracts force schools to serve cheap processed food or face huge financial penalties.

In Merton, six PFI schools are locked ina 25-year contract with New

Schools, which subcontracted catering to Scolarest.

Scolarest said it did not know of any complaints about its food, but Labour candidate Roger Casale said there is a "great deal of room for improvement".

In Islington, where a contract with Scolarest does not expire until 2007 a survey of headteachers found almost half thought its food was poor.