“Healthy school meals provide a lifeline for children facing food insecurity”

As we approach a new tax year, children and families are about to face the perfect storm, with skyrocketing energy bills and a hike in national insurance, matched by an increasingly expensive weekly shop, a cut to Universal Credit and, in many parts of the country, rising council tax. As the choice between heating or eating becomes commonplace, never has school food been so important.

The audience to this article will know all too well that hungry children cannot learn, but in too many places across the UK, this simple phrase is becoming an incredibly complex reality for young people and children. Alarming statistics are beginning to show the effects of the pandemic on the health of our most disadvantaged young people and children – something which will in time translate into poorer life expectancy and higher morbidity rates. Already a baby born in Gateshead is expected to live 15 years less than a baby born in Grantham; this will only be further exacerbated.

Healthy school meals provide a lifeline for children facing food insecurity. However, more children are falling into poverty but remain ineligible for free school meals.

As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for School Food, I believe this crisis needs urgent Government attention before it becomes a public health catastrophe.

The recent Government White Paper on Levelling Up appears to recognise the role of school food and the importance of the healthy and nutritious food which local council catering teams provide.

The White Paper has positively listened to school food organisations, head teachers and pupils who have emphasised the importance of monitoring school food against mandatory standards. Schools will have to publish a ‘whole school food’ approach, which will be piloted by the Food Standards Agency – support is being given to governors to make this a reality. These commitments are also to be joined by better support for food teachers for food education.