Government could face vote on extending free school meals

THE GOVERNMENT may be forced into a parliamentary vote on the extension of free school meals to eligible children after it refused to prolong the scheme through the October half- term break.

Labour on Saturday gave the Government 72 hours to extend the initiative – the subject of a campaign led by Manchester United and England footballer

Marcus Rashford – or face a Commons vote.

With Downing Street having signalled it will not be prolonging the programme through the holidays, Labour said it would trigger a vote in Parliament today, led by MP Angela Rayner.

The push to extend the scheme has been supported by education unions, with Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton last week saying: “The Government must show that it is committed to social justice by extending free school meal provision to school holiday periods during this time of national emergency in which many families are experiencing great hardship.”

Labour said more than 1.44 million children who were eligible for free school meals would benefit if the scheme was extended. A Number 10 spokesman said: “It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays.”

The news comes after a call by five charities for children’s services to receive urgent funding if vulnerable youngsters in England’s poorest areas are to receive help during the coronavirus pandemic.

Local authorities’ services were experiencing a funding crisis before the outbreak, which may push them to “breaking point”, the Children’s Sector Funding Alliance ( CSFA) has warned.

The “need, and poor financial situation, of these authorities is likely to continue to deteriorate”, they warned.

The CSFA, which includes Action for Children, Barnardo’s, the Children’s Society, the National Children’s Bureau and the NSPCC shared their analysis with the Treasury. They are calling for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to provide more longer term funding that will level up communities by being distributed according to need, and help councils intervene earlier when families need help.

PARENTS PREFER to pay a “modest amount” for children’s food at a holiday club rather than have the label of a free school meal, a Government Minister has claimed.

Pressure is mounting on Ministers to perform a U- turn and back footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign to extend the offer of free meals for children over the school holidays.

Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi said Universal Credit is available to support hard- pressed families and suggested that research from holiday clubs shows that parents prefer to pay a small sum for food.

Labour will force a Commons vote today on the extension of free school meals to eligible children after the Government refused to prolong the scheme through the October half- term break.

Mr Zahawi told BBC Radio 4’ s Today programme: “We’ve put over £ 9bn into Universal Credit to help exactly those families that need that help, and we continue with the policy of holiday clubs.”

The Minister said research from a holiday club pilot scheme “demonstrates that families didn’t just want the meals, although they valued the meals, they didn’t like the labelling of them being free, they actually prefer to pay a modest amount, £ 1 or £ 2, but they valued the additional focus on exercise and on reading fun books and so on through the holiday”.

Labour will table a motion calling on the Government to continue directly funding free school meals over the holidays until Easter 2021 to “prevent over a million children going hungry during the coronavirus crisis”.

On Twitter yesterday Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Tory MPs to back Marcus Rashford’s call.

The Welsh Labour Government has pledged to provide free school meals during the holidays until Easter next year.

And a parliamentary petition started by England and Manchester United star Rashford, calling for food to be provided during all holidays and for free school meals to be expanded to all households on Universal Credit, has attracted around 300,000 signatures.

Rashford, who has been made an MBE for his services to vulnerable children, forced a Government U- turn on free school meal vouchers for eligible pupils over the summer holidays.

The fact that his petition attracted more than 100,000 signatures means it must now be considered for debate by MPs, under Parliamentary petition guidelines.

Rashford stepped up the pressure by urging his 3.4 million Twitter followers to lobby their MPs ahead of today’s vote.

“Whilst I don’t agree with another sticking plaster method, these children do need protecting during the upcoming holidays,” the footballer said.

“If your MP doesn’t deem providing vulnerable children with vital food resources a priority then you must ask yourself why.”

However, Downing Street has shown reluctance to extend the scheme, with a spokesman indicating last Thursday that Ministers would not provide free school meals during the Christmas break.

A Number 10 spokesman said: “It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays.”

The push to extend the scheme has been supported by education unions, with Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton last week saying the Government had to show “it is committed to social justice” at a time when “many families are experiencing great hardship”.

They actually prefer to pay a modest amount, £ 1 or £ 2. Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi.