THE price of school meals in York is set to rise - thanks to Jamie Oliver's campaign for higher quality food for youngsters.

Education chiefs will hear tonight that the number of pupils eating school meals in the city has fallen - again since the TV chef highlighted concerns about them.

Parents opting to pay for school meals in a primary school are set to see prices rise at the start of the autumn term in September, from £1.52 to £1.60 per meal. In secondary schools the hike is likely to be from £1.61 to £1.70.

This would put the price spent on each meal at 44p, coming in under the Government's target of 50p per meal.

Before the General Election the Government revealed plans for a £280 million package to improve the quality of school meals, but officials in York say they have yet to see any of the money.

City of York Council's client officer, Barbara Kistasamy, said the price rise covered an annual increase, as well as better quality of ingredients with more fresh fruit and vegetables.

The average national uptake for primary school meals is 45 per cent, in York it is only 35 per cent.

Mrs Kistasamy said the timing of the price hike could be better, given that there had been a fall in the uptake of school meals in York. But, she said, much of the price increase was due to caterers North Yorkshire County Caterers improving the quality of the food.

Mrs Kistasamy said: "There has been a slight drop-off in meal uptake since Jamie Oliver, which is a shame really. I think a lot of parents have seen the programme and lost confidence in the meals.

"It's a good-value meal for the money, and the quality is increasing all the time as manufacturers come on line by changing their recipes, using less E numbers and additives."

The city's executive member for education, Coun Carol Runciman, said: "I think it's very important we look at quality as well as cost and I'm anxious we make sure the food is locally sourced wherever possible."

Many schools have been running special initiatives to try to tempt pupils back to taking school meals.

Osbaldwick Primary School has been operating a "grab a bag" system, where youngsters can buy a school packed lunch and choose from sandwiches, jacket potatoes and fruit instead of lunches prepared at home.

But deputy head teacher Jan Snowball said the initiative was not that successful, as most parents paying for a lunch wanted their youngster to get a cooked meal.

For the last three years the school has also run themed barbecue days serving sausage, burgers and salad outside, and on these days there have only been a handful of children not having a school meal.

Mrs Snowball said: "I think really it's a case of parents getting what they pay for and at £1.60 for a meal that's still a reasonable price."

Councillors in North Yorkshire recently voted to increase the cost of primary school meals from £1.42 to £1.54 from September.

Councillor Runciman's advisory panel will discuss the price rises at a meeting in the Guildhall at 6pm.

Updated: 10:18 Tuesday, July 19, 2005