{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T10:32:29Z","timestamp":1785407549267,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782345600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":175,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Public Health Nutr."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S1368980026102432_as1\">\n                    <jats:title>Objective:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Rising levels of household food insecurity in England, and associated health and well-being impacts for children, have led to calls to expand access to free school meals (FSM). Policymakers have been hesitant to extend provision of FSM due to concerns surrounding acceptability, affordability and implementation challenges. The most effective strategies for expanding FSM are not yet fully understood. This work aims to fill this gap by examining school meal policy from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, to provide actionable recommendations for policies that could expand school meal provision.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S1368980026102432_as2\">\n                    <jats:title>Design:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A qualitative interview study design was used. The data were analysed using the Framework Method, underpinned by the Context and Implementation of Complex Interventions (CICI) framework. Themes were categorised into context-related and implementation-related factors. Detailed recommendations were discussed at the macro, meso and micro levels of the school food system.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S1368980026102432_as3\">\n                    <jats:title>Setting:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study was conducted in England, UK.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S1368980026102432_as4\">\n                    <jats:title>Participants:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Seventeen stakeholders represented the views of local, regional and national government, policy, academia and schools.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S1368980026102432_as5\">\n                    <jats:title>Results:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Stakeholders indicated that policies should prioritise stigma reduction and integrate expansion of school meals with existing school policies where possible, including the monitoring of school food standards and ensuring maintenance of school food quality. Stakeholders also suggested improvement to the administrative process and communication with families and recommended a joined-up approach linking interventions with common goals across the whole food system.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S1368980026102432_as6\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Crucially, sufficient financial support is essential for successful implementation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1017\/s1368980026102432","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T07:02:13Z","timestamp":1782370933000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Policy options to increase the provision of free school meals in England: a qualitative exploration of the challenges of policy implementation through stakeholder interviews"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1425-0513","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catrin Pedder","family":"Jones","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-5703-2302","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bisola","family":"Osifowora","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Birmingham"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0053-7583","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Viktorija","family":"Kesaite","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Irina","family":"Pokhilenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Birmingham"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Steven","family":"Cummins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rachel","family":"Loopstra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Liverpool"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexia","family":"Sawyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8889-523X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amy","family":"Yau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"White","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emma","family":"Frew","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Birmingham"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-016-2811-9"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref11","unstructured":"11. Mayor of London (2024) Free school meals: no child should go to school hungry [Internet]; Available at https:\/\/www.london.gov.uk\/who-we-are\/what-mayor-does\/priorities-london\/free-school-meals (accessed April 2024)."},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref42","first-page":"2061","article-title":"Using framework analysis in applied qualitative research","volume":"26","author":"Goldsmith","year":"2021","journal-title":"Qualitative Report"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1368980019004865"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref34","volume-title":"A Realist Theory of Science","author":"Bhaskar","year":"1975"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/13645579.2016.1144401"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref40","first-page":"187","volume-title":"Analyzing qualitative data","author":"Ritchie","year":"1994"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2288-13-117"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodpol.2020.101936"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref8","unstructured":"8. Holford, A & Rabe, B (2024) The impacts of universal free school meal schemes in England. Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex; Available at https:\/\/saphna.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Holford-Rabe-2024-Impacts-Universal-FSM-Final-Report.pdf (accessed September 2024)."},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2024.e29489"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref17","unstructured":"17. Richardson, H (2024) Teenager calls for universal free school meals. BBC News [Internet]; Available at https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c97v18ey6gqo (accessed April 2024)."},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref37","volume-title":"Policy Analysis for Social Workers","author":"Caputo","year":"2013"},{"key":"S1368980026102432_ref47","unstructured":"47. Van Tulleken, D & Dimbleby, H (2024) Nourishing Britain: a political manual for improving the nation\u2019s health [Internet]. Lewis J, editor. 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Shropshire Star [Internet]; Available at https:\/\/www.shropshirestar.com\/news\/uk-news\/2024\/03\/15\/universal-free-school-meals-should-be-targeted-in-poorer-areas--report\/ (accessed April 2024)."}],"container-title":["Public Health Nutrition"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S1368980026102432","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T07:03:06Z","timestamp":1782370986000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S1368980026102432\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"references-count":49,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026]]}},"alternative-id":["S1368980026102432"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s1368980026102432","relation":{},"ISSN":["1368-9800","1475-2727"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1368-9800","type":"print"},{"value":"1475-2727","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"assertion":[{"value":"\u00a9 The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society","name":"copyright","label":"Copyright","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}},{"value":"This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.","name":"license","label":"License","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}},{"value":"This content has been made available to all.","name":"free","label":"Free to read"}],"article-number":"e129"}}