The size of school meals given to children in Wales is being reviewed

The size of meals given to children in Wales is being looked at after complaints the portions were too small, Wales' education minister has said.

In April, Wales' children's commissioner published the results of a survey about school dinners which found only 19% of children were full after their meal and almost half said they can’t have seconds if they ask for it.

The survey by children’s commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, also found almost a quarter (24%) of children said they can’t always have vegetables if they want them, and 22% said they can’t always have fruit if they want it.

When asked for their ideas on making school dinners better, by far the most common answer amongst children related to wanting more food.

Wales' education minister Lynne Neagle was on BBC Radio Wales and was asked about children getting the same size portion whatever their age, and them not being given enough fruit and vegetables. Asked if those issues were being looked at, she replied: "We are, although we've legislation in place at the moment that governs how healthy meals are, we want school meals to be healthy for our children and young people but we recognise that legislation was brought in quite a few years ago so we are currently working on a review of that. One of the areas I'm really keen to look at is portion sizes.

"It's important we look at portion sizes, the children's commissioner has raised concerns about portion sizes. I don't want any children and young people to be going hungry. There are measures in place to make sure if children want extra food, that can happen, but we do need to look at portion sizes as well as a review of the regulations in the round".

It has been confirmed that from the start of this school year, all primary pupils in Wales will be offered free school meals in Wales from the start of term next week. The Welsh Government has confirmed that all 22 local education authorities are either already providing, or ready to offer, free school meals for their pupils. You can read that here.