Free school meals, but at what cost?

And while youngsters up to the age of seven are now able to tuck into a school meal without their parents having to pay as part of a drive to get kids eating healthier it has come at a cost.

The government has provided £1bn to meet the costs of providing the meals across the UK which are available to all pupils without means testing, over the next two years.

A total of £150 million has been made available to improve schools' kitchen and dining facilities, with an additional £22.5 million specifically to help smaller schools.

It is also hoped that the availability of free school meals will help reduce the obesity problem, with around 20 per cent of children currently classed as obese by the time they leave primary school.

Around 57,000 children in the West Midlands are benefitting from the change which came into force at the start of the new school term, with families saving on average £400 per child across the school year.

Furthermore, the Children's Society says it the policy will help those who need it most, with around 9,000 youngsters from low income families in the region that may not have previously qualified for a meal now getting one.

Sandwell youngsters will benefit the most, with 1,312 children from deprived backgrounds getting their daily meal, compared to 869 pupils across Staffordshire, 878 in Walsall, 869 in Wolverhampton and 622 in Dudley.

But while there are few will argue with the principle of ensuring children get a healthy, balanced lunch, there have been concerns about the strains being placed on the local authorities which have had to put the plans in practice.

A Local Government Association (LGA) poll suggested that some local authorities were being forced to raid existing budgets to meet the Government's requirements.

The organisation claims that nationally there has been a reported shortfall of around £25.9 million to cover the work needed to provide the meals.

Nick Forbes, vice-chairman of the LGA's children and young people board, said: "Dishing up a nutritious lunch for every young pupil will improve their experience of school and help them concentrate in lessons.

"But in some cases money earmarked to repair school roofs is being diverted to plug the £25m shortfall in cash needed to provide free school meals.

"The government, in making this promise, should also have made the money available to deliver it."

The LGA claimed that nearly half of the 75 councils they questioned had not received enough money from the Department for Education.

However, councils in the Black Country and Staffordshire say they have managed to comply with the new requirements with the extra money the Government has provided, with some of them buying in bulk to keep costs down.

Wolverhampton's education spokesman, Councillor Phil Page said the authority had taken on 40 additional catering staff and carried out extensive work at a number of schools across the city.

As a result of the changes more than 8,300 primary school pupils in the city are getting a free school meal for the first time.

At one Wolverhampton School, Woodfield Junior School in Penn, the dining room has been modified to cater for 180 extra pupils.

The school has around 700 in total and the 180 are the new reception and year one intake.

Fortunately kitchen facilities at Woodfield, in Woodfield Avenue, were already big enough as the catering staff previously cooked meals for two other schools, which were delivered.

Jo Phillips, school business manager, said the first few days had been positive.

"It's gone really well," she said.

"The money we were given was more than enough and the whole scheme has been a success.

"We've got more furniture in the dining room for everyone to fit in and we've been working closely with the catering department.

"Dinner time is pretty busy but the pupils are definitely enjoying their meals."

Meal times are staggered across the school so that lunch time runs from 11.30am to 1.30pm.

Meals served include fish and chips and cottage pie, as well as vegetarian options such as vegetarian pizza, as well as desserts such as jelly and ice cream or cookies.

In Walsall Councillor Khizar Hussain said his authority had managed to keep within the £698,000 allocated from the Department for Education to provide the meals.

Sandwell officials said they have had enough cash to pay for meals.

Councillor Simon Hackett, Sandwell Council cabinet member for children's services, said: "We have budgeted so every infant pupil will receive a free school dinner. We have received sufficient funding for this."

And Councillor Tim Crumpton from Dudley added: "We received £855,308 from the government for the free school meals programme. We are currently working out the best way of making sure we can provide a free school meals service using the money given to us. We believe we are giving the best service we can given the limited funding and reduced timescales we had to do this."

Regardless of funding, the new rules have forced big changes on local authorities across the West Midlands.

In Staffordshire, school kitchens will be serving up almost 10,000 more meals a day this term, a 40 per cent increase on last term. A total of 150 schools are affected.

Councillor Ben Adams said the authority commissioned Entrust, a partnership between the council and human resources company Capita to survey the needs of schools across the county.

"Staffordshire County Council didn't have any extra money, so we ordered early, negotiated discounts for buying in bulk and worked very hard to ensure the work done at 150 schools stayed within our £2.03m allocation from the Government."

The work had included installing serving areas, refrigeration and new ovens, as well as alterations to many buildings.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who announced the free meals plan last year, said said he was delighted to see it rolled out, and would like to see it rolled out to all pupils up to the age of 11.