LANCASHIRE youngsters are some of the healthiest in the country after bucking the national trend of turning away from school meals.

An opposition MP has slammed the Government for failing in its drive to get more kids eating healthy school meals after figures showed a drop in the numbers having school dinners since new guidelines were brought in.

But youngsters in East Lancashire still appear to be more than happy tucking into healthy meals instead of junk food.

Liberal Democrat children, schools and families minister David Laws hit out at the Government after figures given in response to a Lib Dem parliamentary question.

It showed that the number of pupils eating school meals had dropped by almost 20per cent at secondary schools and 10per cent at primary - more than 400,000 in total - since stricter nutrition guidelines were brought in in 2005, following celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's campaign to improve schoolchildren's diet.

Describing the situation as a government "balls-up", Mr Laws said the new standards has been brought in too quickly and too inflexibly.

But schools in East Lancashire appear to be bucking the national trend.

Blakewater College in Blackburn has seen a significant rise in numbers of pupils having school meals since it brought in its own gourmet chef in February last year.

Ivor Davies, business manager at the Shadsworth Road school, said: "School meals have been very popular since we got our own chef, and now half of students have them. If anything numbers have risen rather than fallen.

"We also banned all junk food, and there was no backlash - of course there'll always be a few pupils who will still go off to buy something else, but we're happy with the numbers having meals.

He added: "An added bonus is that school meals are popular with staff, and many of them now eat with the students in the canteen, which is something that never happened before, and it improves their interaction."

Peter Morgan, strategic director of children's services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We do not have statistics because schools are responsible for their own school meals services, but the feedback we are getting is that the uptake of school meals has remained constant.

"We do not reflect the national picture of decline and we think this is because the council has been promoting healthy eating in our schools for many years."

Statistics were not available for schools under Lancashire County Council's (LCC) authority - including Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, but it has been shortlisted for Beacon Status over healthy eating initiaitves.

Stubbins Primary School in Rossendale is another success story.

The majority of pupils at the Bolton Road North school eat school dinners, where fruit and vegetables dominate the menu.

Headteacher Patricia Braddock said: "We haven't seen any fall in take-up numbers, in fact I think they've gone up. Pupils eat fruit every day, and we now have a daily salad bar where they can choose what they want."