PARENTS across Darlington are paying different amounts for meals depending where their children go to school.

A council study in to the quality of lunch meals has found that schools charge different fees for the same food.

A small group of councillors has so far visited three primary schools as part of an audit requested by the health and well being scrutiny committee and the children and young person's scrutiny group.

An interim report by health and well being committee chairman Marian Swift was made to the council's cabinet on Tuesday.

The group has made a series of recommendations to the cabinet from its findings up to date.

One of those is to ask that the pricing of meals be considered to agree a fixed price for all schools across the borough.

At the moment, it is up to individual governing bodies to set a price for meals.

The council charges £1.57 per school meal. Schools charge parents between £1.60 and £1.75 per meal.

All schools adhere to the same menu, which works on a rotation system and is subject to seasonal variations. Parents receive a copy of the menu in advance.

Coun Swift said: "At the three schools, we were very impressed with the behaviour of the young children considering some of the ages were as low as five.

"The quality of the food was excellent. The quantity was also very good.

"The main concerns we came out with was that across all the schools that they have the same menu and the same providers but they charge different prices."

Coun Swift has also recommended that schools provide alternative menus to include a halal meat option.

A third recommendation would be for a uniformed approach to be taken on the nutritional content of packed lunches, which are provided by parents.

She added that different approaches had been found at the three schools they visited on advice given for packed lunches.

Coun Swift said: "You cannot tell parents what to provide but you can advise them."

The inquiry party was disappointed at the take up of school meals at some schools. However, Coun Swift reported all pupils at one school had school meals.