Stephen speaks in favour of free school meals

Yesterday, Tuesday 7 May, Parliament debated the provision of free school meals to schoolchildren. Stephen spoke in the debate to advocate for free school meals as a tool to reduce child poverty. Nationally, free school meals are only available to children from households who earn less than £7,400 per year and receive certain benefits, such as universal credit. In London, however, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has provided free school meals to all children in primary schools since February 2023. On Tuesday 7 May, MPs debated the provision of free school meals in the UK. Stephen argued that free school meals are a vital for tackling child poverty. In 2022/23, child poverty was at its highest since 1998/99. 4.3 million children were in relative poverty after housing costs, and 23.4% of children were in moderately or severely food insecure households according to the Food Foundation. Stephen also noted that Newham was among the first local authorities to introduce free school meals, as part of a pilot programme in 2009. “The assessment of the pilot showed that it led to improvements in classroom behaviour, concentration and attainment,” he said. Stephen concluded, ”free school meals help alleviate poverty and improve children’s health and educational attainment. Let us use this lever much more widely to tackle the scourge of child poverty.”