Following the Chancellor of the
Exchequer’s Spring Budget announcement, the
Executive Director of The Food
Foundation, Anna Taylor, said
the following:
“The UK Government has made the right
decision to provide extra support for childcare and make changes
to the benefit system for parents receiving Universal
Credit.
“However, there remains a big gap in
the support provided by Government to protect
school-age children from the consequences of hunger and poor
diet. This means 800,000 children living in poverty continue to
miss out on Free School Meals.
“Child food poverty has doubled in the
last year – yet calls for Government to extend the threshold for
Free School Meals is falling on deaf ears.
Free School Meals are one of the few
existing policy levers available to us that directly and
exclusively target vulnerable
children.
“Recent polling shows overwhelming support for the
expansion of Free School Meals across England’s parliamentary
constituencies – eight out of ten people in England (80%) want
the Government to act.
“The Government has not responded to
the evidence that expanding Free School Meals has cost benefits
for our economy. Analysis shows for every £1 invested, £1.38 would be returned, through
social, health and educational
benefits.
“Many children excluded from Free
School Meals are forced to skip lunch or rely on cheap, unhealthy
food that damages their long-term health.
If it continues to go unchecked, our
child obesity epidemic will place a greater burden on our NHS and
block our economic development. Conversely, a
well-nourished child will lead
a fuller, happier and more prosperous
life.
“The Labour London Mayor’s recent
decision to expand Free School Meals to primary school children
in London should have spurred the Government to act nationally.
Instead, we see a widening postcode lottery with children in
London and in the devolved UK nations benefitting from
progressive policy change, while children elsewhere get left
behind. If the Government is serious about levelling up it
needs to act urgently to make sure every child in the country
receives a nutritious meal at school.
“We urge the UK Government to revise
its decision on Free School Meals, and give our children the best
chance to learn, be healthy and thrive. Doing so is popular with
voters, will help with levelling up and boost our economy while
protecting the NHS.”
