In January 2008, as part of the Government's obesity strategy, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls announced that cookery lessons would be made compulsory for 11- to 14-year-olds. "Leaving school able to cook healthy dishes from scratch is an essential everyday skill all young people should have," he said. "It is at the heart of tackling obesity."

The reintroduction of cookery to the curriculum follows less than a year after the Government's previous measure to offer secondary school children an 'entitlement to cook'. From September 2008, pupils at secondary schools without cooking facilities will have the 'right' to 24 hours of cookery lessons, until cookery lessons become compulsory in 2011.