NORTH education bosses are spending vastly different amounts on ingredients for primary school dinners, it has emerged.

A Northern Echo survey has revealed that the money spent at one North-East local education authority was 40 per cent higher than a neighbouring authority.

While Hartlepool Borough Council spends 50p per meal on ingredients, neighbouring Stockton spends 35p.

The Northern Echo uncovered the disparity after chef Jamie Oliver spent time in a North-East school trying to tempt students to eat healthier foods for a television programme.

People across the country watched as Jamie served dinners at Eden Community Primary School, in Peterlee, County Durham.

Durham County Council spends 48p per meal and provides meals for 28,446 students a day -a total of £13,650.

Stockton Borough Council spends the least per pupil in the region, buying the ingredients for 35p.

A council spokesman said: "We aim to offer value for money in providing nutritious meals for our children. Our buying power is increased because we buy our supplies with two neighbouring authorities, Middlesbrough ad Hartlepool."

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council spent the second least -38p per primary meal. A spokesman said: "We try to provide a balanced meal at an economic cost."

Sixty per cent of primary schoolchildren in Middlesbrough have a school lunch - and the education authority spends 47p per lunch per day.

There are salad bars in almost half of primary schools, and the council intends to increase this.

Pupils in Hartlepool are given the most expensive food, with their lunches costing 50p each. The council said it was above the national average.

Catering manager Doreen Wilkinson said: "We have reduced the number of portions of chips eaten by more than 50 per cent. We add brown flour to dishes, we do not add salt, we reduce sugar, we monitor E numbers and we make sure that each and every day there is a wide selection of fresh food available."

Nick Postma, of North Yorkshire County Council, which spends 42p per pupil per day on food, said: "The quality of school meals is really starting to improve. Recently we have taken a lot of processed meals off the menu."

He said that for every extra 10p spent on ingredients, it would cost the authority £340,000 more a year.