Free school meals ‘just not good enough’
A prominent campaigner for better free school meals has joined the ongoing debate over the quality of lockdown food parcels by saying some “just aren’t good enough for our children” and that “families deserve dignity”.
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson was responding to a photo published on social media by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford – who last year received an MBE for this charity work on the issue – showing “woefully inadequate” supplies received by one family.
Mrs Hodgson, who represents Washington and Sunderland West and is also chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on School Food, said: "Some of the photos of food parcels given to children on Free School Meals (FSM) circulating on social media are appalling.
"Families deserve dignity and sufficient quality food to feed their children, but what the photos show is far from that.
"I want to support the school food supply chain so it's back to business as usual when schools reopen.
"But it's clear that some of the food parcels just aren't good enough for our children."
Mrs Hodgson,wh oreceived FSM as a child herself, has been campaigning on the issue since becoming an MP in 2005 and set up the APPG on School Food in 2010 to push for better FSM provision.
Rashford, who has been involved in discussions with education food provider Chartwells about its parcels, has asked why independent businesses which “struggled their way through 2020” cannot be mobilised to support better distribution of food packages,
Chartwells itself has apologised following uproar sparked by the photo and
added: “We have had time to investigate the picture circulated on Twitter.
"For clarity, this shows five days of free school lunches (not 10 days) and the charge for food, packing and distribution was actually £10.50 and not £30 as suggested.
“However, in our efforts to provide thousands of food parcels a week at extremely short notice we are very sorry the quantity has fallen short in this instance.”
The firm added :“We would like to thank Marcus Rashford and the Permanent Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, Vicky Ford, for their collaboration as we navigate these difficult times.”