AROUND 80 new catering jobs have been created in Halton's schools to provide free dinners to all infant children.

It is part of a new £1 billion government initiative to serve a free hot meal at lunchtime to all state funded pupils aged four to seven.

Halton Council received around £420,000 to upgrade school kitchens and equipment and recruit additional staff.

The money was used to lever in additional funds to improve facilities in time for the start of the autumn term.

Halton Clr Phil Harris, board member for school meals, said the council was well-prepared.

He said: “Despite the major increase in numbers, the school meals were delivered from the first day back at school without any difficulty and that is a credit to the workforce who provide the service.

“Halton has one of the best school meals service in the country and this is another example of how well it performs."

Halton Council started planning more than a year ago, carrying out an audit of all school kitchens and producing an action plan for what was needed.

Schools have introduced various measures including longer or staggered lunch breaks.

St Bede’s Catholic Infant School in Widnes are making meal times fun. They have bought a new servery called ‘Billy Bus’ which travels across the playground from their junior school where the hot meals are cooked.

The nationwide scheme is expected to save parents around £400 per year per child.

Until now, around 367,000 children in this age group whose parents are on benefits or earn less than £16,190 have been eligible for free school meals.

Under the new policy, an extra 1.55 million pupils are entitled to a free dinner. The Department for Education has promised the £2.30 meals will be fully funded by the government.