Free school meals lift children out of poverty

Sharon Hodgson MP writes for ePolitix.com ahead of her Westminster Hall debate on free school meals.

I am delighted to have been able to secure a debate on free school meals in Westminster Hall today – this is something I have campaigned on for many years, having received free school meals myself from the day I started school to the day I finished. Therefore you might imagine how appalled I was by the new government's decision to limit and cut the provision of free school meals rather than widen it. This is completely the wrong direction to go in, not just because of the health and educational benefits to pupils, but also because of the financial benefits for the least well off in society.

My involvement with this issue started in 2006, not long after I was elected to the Commons. Myself and Roberta Blackman-Woods (Lab, City of Durham), went on a fact finding visit along with about a dozen other MPs to Sweden. Whilst I was there it wasn't free schools that captured my attention but rather their school meals policy. In Sweden free school meals have been available to all children free of charge for quite a number of years now. Take-up there is approximately 85 per cent, and we were amazed to see children not only tucking in to a healthy, nutritious meal but also to see them serving themselves from a buffet style server and working together to help clear away the plates and wipe down the tables. Whereas we came back from Sweden excited and convinced about the benefits of universal free school meals, the current Secretary of State for Education came back from his visits to Sweden considerably more excited about free schools!

Now we find ourselves in a situation where, according to a leaked memo obtained by Channel 4 News, money is going to be diverted from free school meals to free schools; from a scheme which would have lifted children out of poverty to one which will do nothing except pander to middle class parents who still bemoan the loss of grammar schools in leafy London boroughs.

The extension of free school meals to all families below the poverty line announced by the previous government would have eased transitions into work for many parents, and would have supported the government's wider drive to improve educational and health outcomes amongst the least well off in our society. A measure which would have brought 50,000 children above the poverty line has been scrapped, exposing the government's claims that it will promote fairness as nothing but empty rhetoric.

The only way to ensure that all children are getting a healthy lunch, and that the poorest are getting what they are entitled to (1 in 5 children entitled to school meals to not currently receive them) is to expand the provision of free school meals to all. It is all too easy to dismiss the argument by saying 'we haven't got the money to do it'.

The tough decisions which have to be made on spending should be a matter of prioritising, not just slashing budgets for ideological reasons. I am sure that everyone can agree that the education and health of our children is of utmost importance, and I think that more than justifies the admittedly considerable spending commitment which this would policy entail. And seeing as obesity is currently estimated to be costing the NHS £3.5bn a year, with that figure only set to rise, this is a cost worth paying to potentially save money in the long run.

Even at a time when the deficit needs to be cut, we cannot forget the social implications of the decisions which are made by a government, and I hope that the strength of the contributions to the debate will make the current administration think again about their school meals policy. The future health of our children depends upon it.

Article Comments

Have your say...

Please enter your comments below.

Name

Your e-mail address

Listen to audio version

Please type in the letters or numbers shown above (case sensitive)