THE Government has talked for a long time about the importance of preventative measures to help ease the ever-growing burden on the National Health Service.

Where better to start than in schools? If healthier diets are targeted at children, there has to be a positive impact on the NHS for years to come.

We therefore welcome Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's announcement at yesterday's Labour Party Conference that junk food is to be banned in schools.

The reality, of course, is that more children will simply slope off to the chip shop at lunchtime. Stopping schools serving up rubbish is an important step, but parents have to set standards too if the full benefits are to be seen.

And although we applaud Ms Kelly's declaration, it's hard to clap too enthusiastically because it has taken the Government far too long to get its act together.

According to Tony Blair, ministers have been working on the issue for "quite a long time".

The truth is that progress was painfully slow until Jamie Oliver shamed the nation with a television documentary highlighting the school meals scandal.

Suddenly, we have politicians squabbling like children in the dinner queue to claim the political advantage. The Tories accuse Labour of jumping on the bandwagon - surely not - and in the next breath promise to spend even more on school dinners themselves.

Very soon, there will be standing room only on this particular bandwagon.

But the person who deserves the real credit is the driver - Jamie Oliver.