Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

Support for Children Entitled to Free School Meals — [Dr Rupa Huq in the Chair]

26 May 2021 · 8 other contributors · 10,939 words

Opened by Catherine West Lab Hornsey and Friern Barnet

Responding minister: Vicky Ford

EconomyChildren & Families

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Catherine West raised concerns about support for children entitled to free school meals — [dr rupa huq in the chair] in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • Catherine West is concerned about the rise in child poverty, with 50% of children in some areas living in poverty.
  • In Haringey, 8,000 children, or 29%, rely on free school meals, an increase of 1,700 over the past year.
  • West calls for the Government to make the 20 universal credit uplift permanent and provide additional support for families with fuel, water, council tax, and housing costs.

Key requests to Government

West urges the Government to make the £20 universal credit uplift permanent and provide more help for families with fuel bills, water bills, council tax, and housing costs. She also calls for high-quality debt advice services and affordable childcare solutions to address the financial burden on families.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Catherine West Lab Hornsey and Friern Barnet

Catherine West is concerned about the stark inequality in society, with wealthy individuals living alongside those in extreme poverty. She cites statistics showing that child poverty has reached 50% in some areas, while wealth for the richest 1% has grown exponentially. In her borough of Haringey, 8,000 children (29%) rely on free school meals, an increase of 1,700 over the past year. The Trussell Trust reports a significant rise in food bank usage among those previously unaffected by poverty.

Other contributors (8)
  • Claudia Webbe Lab Leicester East

    Claudia Webbe highlighted the increase in food parcels delivered to Leicester, with over 2,000 going to children and a significant rise in food bank usage among adults. She noted that only 3,300 out of over 7,000 school-aged children living below the poverty line were eligible for free school meals before the pandemic. Webbe urged the Government to widen access to free school meals and improve their quality as per Marcus Rashford's campaign, extend holiday food schemes permanently, and introduce a statutory right to food for everyone in the UK.

  • Rupa Huq Lab/Co-op Wealdens

    As Chair of the debate, Dr Rupa Huq acknowledges the importance of discussing support for children entitled to free school meals. She emphasizes the need for a more comprehensive approach to tackle child poverty and its long-term impacts.

  • Janet Daby Lab Lewisham East

    Janet Daby expressed concern about food poverty in the UK despite it being the fifth richest country, highlighting cuts to local authority funding and the impact on children's services. She mentioned a £28 million cut for Lewisham council this year and noted the rise of food bank users due to in-work poverty. Daby also criticized Universal Credit's five-week delay as harmful and discriminatory.

  • Jim Shannon DUP Strangford

    Jim Shannon highlighted the importance of free school meals for children's education and well-being, especially during lockdown periods. He mentioned that Newtownards was the first place in Northern Ireland to have a Trussell Trust food bank. In 2020-21, almost 1 million emergency food parcels were given to children, marking a 36% rise from the previous year. Single-parent households and larger families are particularly vulnerable. Shannon also praised the Education Minister's immediate response to provide food vouchers in schools.

  • Patricia Gibson SNP North Ayrshire and Arran

    The hon. Member expressed shock and disappointment at the Prime Minister's claim during PMQs that child poverty was falling, stating it contradicts the reality of rising child poverty. Ms Gibson criticised the current welfare system for not addressing child poverty effectively, highlighting that only one third of children receiving free school meals achieve good GCSE grades compared to two thirds from better-off families. She pointed out Scotland's SNP Government is expanding free breakfasts and lunches to all primary pupils and increasing food payments. She also noted 450,000 Scottish children will benefit from a £20 weekly child payment. Ms Gibson called for the UK Government to end the five-week wait for universal credit support and remove advance payments that trap claimants in debt.

  • Siobhain McDonagh Lab Mitcham and Morden

    McDonagh highlighted the digital divide during lockdown, noting that only 6.3% of state school pupils attended four or more online lessons daily compared to 30% of private school pupils due to lack of devices and connectivity. She called for internet access and adequate devices for children entitled to free school meals to ensure they can log in and catch up from home. Asked if Marcus Rashford was making up his claims about the impact of free school meals on children, suggesting it was a reflection of his own state of mind.

  • Stephanie Peacock Lab Barnsley South

    As a former schoolteacher, Stephanie Peacock highlighted the importance of free school meals for children's learning and health. She reported that in her constituency, 25% of 0 to 15 year-olds live in poverty and over 3,000 children are eligible for free school meals. She praised Marcus Rashford's work on holiday hunger but criticised the Government for not fully funding emergency food provision during holidays.

  • Tulip Siddiq Lab Hampstead and Highgate

    Ms Siddiq highlighted the national outrage over child poverty and the broken economic system that forces parents to rely on inadequate state support. She noted the significant increase in free school meals eligibility, citing figures of over half a million children qualifying since March 2020. Concerned about the Government's actions during the pandemic, she questioned why they had not guaranteed free school meals for summer holidays and criticised the failure to deliver digital devices and internet connectivity for home learning.

Government Response

Vicky Ford

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) for securing this important debate, which enables us to continue the debate that we started on Monday. The Government provide more than 1.6 million free school meals during term time, helping pupils from the lowest-income families concentrate, learn and achieve in the classroom. They have extended free school meal eligibility to more children than any other government in the last half-century, including all children in their infant years and eligible children in further education institutes. Last year, they expanded that offer to many families who normally have no recourse to public funds whatever. The Government fund breakfast clubs in over 2,450 schools, supporting more than a quarter of a million children, and recently announced another £24 million for continued support. They also provide the school fruit and veg scheme, universal free milk provision to all infant schools, and their fantastic holiday activities and food programme. The use of cashless payments in schools helps remove decades of stigma associated with free school meals. Investing in education is a key route to levelling up the playing field for all, so they ensure that those in greatest need have every chance to realise their potential through the pupil premium fund. In 2020-21 alone, £2.4 billion was distributed through the pupil premium supporting almost 2 million disadvantaged children across the country. Schools are provided with autonomy to use the funding in the most effective way for their learners, and this has had a real impact on attainment, narrowing the gap between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged peers. The Government also fund free home-to-school transport for children eligible for free school meals and have expanded their holiday activities and food programme across England during 2021. During the pandemic, they delivered over 1.3 million laptops to support remote learning and funded almost £500 million of food vouchers when school attendance was restricted. The £1 billion covid catch-up package has enabled schools to tackle lost learning, while the £350 million national tutoring programme targets disadvantaged young people with high-quality small group or one-on-one tuition to accelerate academic progress.

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