School meal nutrition policy and procurement in England: Governance variability and innovation in implementation settings

Lucy MichaelsDavid Barling^*

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom

Healthy, sustainably sourced school meals are considered a means to advance health, environmental, and economic goals within food systems. Achieving these benefits in practice, however, often requires operating across a complex, multi-level policy and governance landscape. In England, two key interrelated policy areas are the School Food Standards and the public procurement rules governing food in schools. Policy change is needed to improve outcomes, particularly given the lack of implementation provision. The paper introduces the concept of implementation settings to examine how school food policy and procurement are enacted through everyday practice. In England, these settings constitute a fragmented governance landscape with diverse arrangements and variable implementation outcomes. Multiple actors from national to local government, schools, academies, public and private caterers and the voluntary sector have been delegated and assumed differing responsibilities. The case study draws on original qualitative data from a research project that introduced British-grown beans into primary school meals in two local authorities. Findings illustrate governance variability and show how local innovation and entrepreneurship have emerged within implementation settings. By foregrounding implementation settings as a critical site of governance, the paper advances understanding of the social, institutional, and contextual conditions that enable or inhibit effective school food policy implementation. It further argues that local collaborative innovation provides important but partial pathways forward. Consistent, positive food system outcomes from school meals also require strong national leadership and structural reforms. The paper offers practical and theoretical insights for those seeking to understand, navigate and transform institutional food systems governance.