Extend free school meals to 1.5m more children, National Food Strategy says
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Up to 1.5 million more children should be given access to free school meals in a bid to tackle growing food poverty in the wake of Covid-19, a major new report recommends.
In the first part of the new government commissioned National Food Strategy, Henry Dimbleby, author and co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain and the Chefs in Schools initiative, warns “in the post-lockdown recession, many more families will struggle to feed themselves adequately”.
-
Funding Focus - Covid recovery funding
-
CYP Now launches #Chances4Children campaign
-
Blog: Children's Commissioner: 'Decision not to extend free school meals shows a lack of compassion'
“A government that is serious about “levelling up” must ensure that all children get the nutrition they need,” he adds, citing “making sure a generation of our most disadvantaged children do not get left behind” as a main theme of his report.
In what has been billed as the first government commissioned food strategy since the Second World War, Dimbleby calls on the government to extend free school meals to all children, aged seven to 16, with one parent in receipt of universal credit.
This would see 1.5m extra children eligible for free school meals increasing the total number to 2.6m, the report states. Latest government figures show that as of January 2020, 15.4 per cent of all school pupils in England are eligible for free school meals - this equates to around 1.3m children aged four to 18.
Increasing the number of children eligible for free school meals would cost an additional £670m per year, Dimbleby estimates.
“One of the miserable legacies of Covid-19 is likely to be a dramatic increase in unemployment and poverty, and therefore hunger. The effects of hunger on young bodies (and minds) are serious and long-lasting, and exacerbate social inequalities,” he says.
Dimbleby, who co-authored the government’s School Food Plan in 2013, also calls for the expansion of the summer food programme to be extended to all those in receipt of free school meals as opposed to just those eligible for benefits-related free school meals.
This would more than double the number of children (50,000) reached by the programme in 2019.
The report states: “Under this recommendation, we estimate an additional 1.1m children will participate in the programme. This is estimated to cost an additional £200m a year.”
The report includes a guide for schools providing free school meals parcels over the summer break which advises the inclusion of most of the main food groups and healthy recipe ideas. It also urges schools not to include unhealthy snacks such as crisps and sweets.
As part of his recommendations, Dimbleby also calls on the government to increase the value of healthy start vouchers given to disadvantaged pregnant women to £4.25 per week.
The scheme should also be extended to every pregnant woman and to all households with children under four where a parent or guardian is in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent benefits.
Furthermore, the work of the food to the vulnerable ministerial task force should be extended for 12 months up until July 2021, Dimbleby says.
“It should collect, assess and monitor data on the number of people suffering from food insecurity at any time, and agree cross-departmental actions, where necessary, to support those who cannot access or afford food,” he adds.
The major new report, commissioned by former environment secretary Michael Gove in 2019, also examines the impact of climate change and Brexit on the UK’s food supply.
The government is set to produce a white paper on the recommendations following the publication of the National Food Strategy Part Two in 2021.
The report comes just days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson published a new plan to tackle obesity which proposes banning junk food adverts on television and online before 9pm.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Free school meals at least guarantee that children going hungry at home get one nutritious meal a day during term time, which can be vital for their wellbeing and education.”