TV cook Jamie Oliver has certainly stirred up the debate over school meals.

On the day that he delivered a petition to Downing Street demanding better quality, the Government announced a £280m package of improvements.

It will allow 50p to be spent on every primary school meal and 60p on every secondary school meal.

To the county council's credit, spending on school meals in Oxfordshire is already at about the level agreed by ministers.

With extra money, our schools should be able to continue to improve standards.

But the problem of persuading children to eat school dinners remains.

A survey shows that only 26 per cent of pupils are choosing to eat school meals, well below the national average.

We need to find out why.

It is all very well spending more money on ingredients and improving quality. But that gives us only half the picture.