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MORE ‘CHIPS’ MEAN LESS CHIPS
Added: (Fri Feb 11 2005)
Childhood obesity and the control of what children eat has become a huge issue. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly today announced plans to make school meals healthier and give parents a greater say in what their children eat. The Department for Education wants parents to become involved in everything that their child experiences within school – including what they eat.
A step closer to achieving this is through a cashless payment system. By utilising a smartcard or ‘cashless purse’, the card is used by pupils and staff to pay for food, drinks and snacks on school premises and introduces a means of control for parents. Reports are able to be produced on a periodic basis informing parents of what their children have purchased.
Nowadays it is even possible to apply rules to the child’s account – for example, only two portions of chips per week. Current developments anticipate the ability to distinguish meals that contain a specific ingredient in case of allergies, such as nuts. Value can be loaded to the card via cash at an on-site loader, cheque at the school administration office or direct via the internet to the child’s account.
Newcastle-based G2 Integrated Solutions has developed a smartcard application that offers parents increased control over their children’s diets whilst at school – parents are able to monitor and manage daily spend allowances, view and even restrict purchases of different food types bought, such as chocolate bars, for example.
The cards also allow schools to offer ‘reward points’ as part of healthy eating schemes and promotions.
They allow pupils and parents to:
· have dietary control and monitor what their children eat
· have better control over what they buy at lunch
· support healthy eating schemes
· remove the stigma of free school meals and help reduce bullying
· manage food allergies.
Sylvia Campbell, sales and marketing director, said: “We provide over 100 multi-application card system installations and 1.5 million cardholders in educational establishments throughout the UK.
“We have seen an explosion of interest from the schools market throughout 2004, with the company winning an increasing number of contracts. Alongside the benefits of the cashless solutions tackling issues such as security, obesity and bullying, we are confident that this interest will continue to grow throughout 2005.”
Interviews, further details and case studies will be available (see contacts details below).
Information about G2:
G2 is a national company, which has its operational headquarters at City Road, Newcastle, and offices in London, High Wycombe and a manufacturing capacity near Cardiff
G2 has forged itself an impressive reputation as the market leader in the provision of integrated solutions of cashless payment systems, access control
and payment processing.
With growing concerns surrounding issues such as security, childhood obesity and bullying, G2 is confident that it can continue to increase its market share and boost profits.
G2 has major clients across the education, health, public sector, corporate and commercial markets, with more than two million cardholders currently using G2 smartcard technology at 1500 sites nationwide.
Its 500-strong client list includes a string of major blue chip/FTSE 100 companies, with household names such as HBoS, Unilever, Addenbrookes NHS Trust and London Metropolitan University.
In the North East, G2 provides services to Newcastle NHS Trust, Newcastle University, Northumbria Police, and the following schools: Gosforth Central, Heaton Manor, Westerhope First, Gosforth East, Throckley and Wingrove.
Notes to editor:
G2 - consisting of GiroVend, PAT and Airtime Interactive - has more than 45 years combined expertise and experience in the area of card application development.
As a subsidiary of Moneybox plc – the cash machine and payment services listed on the London Stock Exchange – G2 employs 150 staff with offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, London, High Wycombe and Cardiff.
Products offered by G2 can be categorised into three broad groups:
· cashless payment (cards to replace cash)
· access control (security)
· payment processing (e-commerce).
G2 designs, manufactures, installs and supports a range of multi-application products and services.
For more information, please contact Gardiner Richardson:
Sarah Banks, account manager - tel: 0191 261 4250 or email: sarahb@gardiner-richardson.com
Matthew Kennard, account executive - tel: 0191 261 4250 or
email: matthewk@gardiner-richardson.com