Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Department for Education and Skills for funding the research,
and the many people who contributed to this study. In particular, we are grateful to the
interviewees, LEA officers, private catering contractors, school staff, pupils, parents, and
members of interest groups, who gave us their time. These many interviewees provided us with
the accounts, comments and insights that have informed this study. We would also like to thank
the project steering group, Stephen Bishop, Natalie Owen, Sarah Ford, Carol MacMillan and
Nigel Gee from DfES, and Joe Harvey from the Health Education Trust, for their valuable
contributions, both in discussion and through their comments. We are indebted too to Richard
Pond of the Labour Research Department for supplying additional sampling data. Finally, we
would like to thank Professor Peter Aggleton for his helpful comments on the draft of this
report, and Annabelle Stapleton and Sharon Lawson for secretarial support.