Labour conference: Lisa Nandy promises action to extend free school meals

Speaking at a fringe meeting at the party’s annual conference in Manchester, Lisa Nandy claimed that four million children would be growing up without enough food to eat by the time of the next election.

“We’re working on plans at the moment to make sure that every child starts the day with a full stomach, that their parents are empowered to give them the best start, and that children don’t needlessly go without healthy foods for long periods of time,” she said.

“We’re going to announce something about that quite soon. There is a strong case for extending the entitlement of free school meals to more children. That’s something we’re looking into at the moment.”

During the fringe event run by the children’s charity Action for Children, Nandy added that Labour plans to take a “holistic approach” to child wellbeing and safeguarding policies across children and young people’s services.

“As all agencies are under pressure we’ve seen a retreat from the situation post Victoria Climbié, when there was a recognition that it’s everybody’s responsibility to keep children safe,” she said.

“Agencies are focusing more and more on their own core functions and that should concern us all. We would make sure all frontline staff know it’s their responsibility to keep children safe. We should never try to pretend that social workers and teachers can do it all.”

A report by the Children’s Society earlier this year estimated that 500,000 children who qualify for free school meals are not taking them up, while a further 700,000 living in poverty are not actually eligible for meals, because of the hours that their parents work.