School meal nutrition and procurement policies in England: governance variability and innovation in implementation settings

Introduction Healthy, sustainably sourced school meals are considered a means to advance health, environmental, and economic goals within food systems. Achieving these benefits in practice, however, often requires navigating a complex, multi-level policy and governance landscape. In England, two interrelated policy areas that govern school meals are the School Food Standards and public procurement rules. Policy change is needed to improve outcomes, particularly given the lack of implementation provision. To highlight this, the paper introduces the concept of implementation settings to examine how school food policy and procurement are enacted in practice. Methods The study draws on a qualitative case study that introduced British-grown beans into primary school meals in two English local authorities. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with policy actors across national and local government, schools, academies, caterers, and the voluntary sector, as well as from academic literature and policy documents. The analysis focused on diverse governance arrangements within implementation settings. Results Findings reveal a fragmented school food governance landscape in England, characterised by diverse arrangements and variable implementation outcomes, as diverse policy actors have been delegated or have assumed differing responsibilities. These dynamics highlight significant governance variability in how national school food policy is enacted, with local innovation and entrepreneurship driving positive outcomes. Discussion By foregrounding implementation settings as a critical site of governance, the paper advances understanding of the social, institutional, and contextual conditions that enable or constrain effective school food policy implementation. It further argues that local collaborative innovation offers important but partial pathways forward. Consistently positive food system outcomes also require strong national leadership and structural reforms. The study provides both practical and theoretical insights for those seeking to understand, navigate, and transform institutional food systems governance.