The Government has been urged to “step up” and tackle child food poverty during a parliamentary debate triggered by the campaigning efforts of footballer Marcus Rashford.
More than 1.1 million people signed a petition launched by the England and Manchester United striker as part of his mission to ensure no child goes hungry.
Labour MP Catherine McKinnell, chairwoman of the House of Commons Petitions Committee, opened a Westminster Hall debate on the petition on Monday afternoon.
She told MPs that the petition had three key asks of the Government: to provide meals and activities during all school holidays, to expand free school meals to all under 16-year-olds where their parents are receiving benefits, and to increase the value of Healthy Start vouchers and expand the scheme.
Ms McKinnell referenced research by the Food Foundation charity which found an estimated 14% of households, including 2.3 million children, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in the six months following the start of the March 2020 lockdown, compared to 11.5% before the pandemic.
“Child food poverty isn’t about families that rely on low cost ready meals, or lack access to healthy food, it’s about children who are forced to skip meals and go hungry because their parents or carers cannot afford to feed them.
“It’s a shocking reality that we live in a country where there’s no shortage of food, only a shortage of money to pay for it”.
Ms McKinnell said the “incredibly serious issue” was made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic and feared it may persist “long after we come out of lockdown”.
The MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North welcomed the Government’s move to provide “£221 million of funding for the holiday activities and food programme in Easter, summer and Christmas 2021”.
“Though it must be said it took heavy cajoling from Marcus Rashford and campaigners and colleagues in this House to make it happen,
“It’s still not clear, however, whether the Government expects to make this funding a long-term commitment beyond 2021.”
Ms McKinnell said Rashford had explained from his own experience how “it is impossible to learn and to develop in a school environment if you’re hungry and don’t have the right foods”.
“He emphasised that food is important not just for effective learning, but also removing the anxiety of not knowing where your next meal is coming from,” she said, adding: “We also heard that up to 1.2 million children could be living in poverty, but not eligible for free school meals, so forced to rely on poor quality food or go hungry.”
Hitting out at the “lack of clarity” over who in government was responsible for its policy on child poverty, Ms McKinnell urged ministers to develop a long term plan to support families over and above temporary measures.
She said: “Normalising emergency food aid as the primary way of dealing with the effects of child poverty is not something that we should aspire to as a country.
buy tadalafil online harwermd.com/wp-content/maintenance/assets/fonts/woff/tadalafil.html no prescription
“It’s stigmatising and it’s not sustainable,” she argued.
Responding for the Government, Children and Families Minister Vicky Ford, said support for children should not be a “party political issue”.
She said the Government was “fully considering” the initial June 2020 recommendations of the independent National Food Strategy (NFS) review that it commissioned.
She said Healthy Start vouchers had risen in value to £4.25 a week, part of one of petition’s asks, and said the Government was developing a “digital approach” to make it easier for families to apply for them.
Ms Ford said the holiday activities and food programme was expanding across England this year and the Government, was “exploring any additional support that may be need through the summer”, and would consider free school meal eligibility alongside other recommendations from the NFS review.
The review’s final report is due in the summer.
“The health and the happiness of children will remain at the heart of government as we build back better from this pandemic,” Ms Ford concluded.
In response, Ms McKinnell said she had heard no commitments from the minister on the petition’s asks – recommendations from the NFS review.
She noted a tweet from Rashford made during the debate which read: “It’s confusing that we are debating the implementation of government-commissioned findings.
“Gov did the research. Gov gathered the data. And solutions were formed from that (NFS).
“I endorsed them…so what’s to debate?
online pharmacy buy singulair online best drugstore for you
Let’s discuss the findings and discuss the solutions.buy finasteride online harwermd.com/wp-content/maintenance/assets/fonts/woff/finasteride.html no prescription
”
Ms McKinnell said the Government needed to focus on addressing child and family poverty, adding: “We are one of the richest countries in the world and there’s nothing inevitable about millions of children going hungry in this country.
“But unless we get to the root of the problem, rather than just treating the symptoms, or worse, failing to take responsibility for it.
“This is a problem that is not going to go away.
online pharmacy buy elavil online best drugstore for you
“The Government needs to step up now.”
