Item 11 (i)
Robert Evans (Stanwell and Stanwell Moor) to move under standing order 11 as follows:
This Council notes that:
The Council further notes that:
This Council believes that:
This Council resolves to call upon the Cabinet to:
I. Look at every possible way in which the Council can do more to assist children in need and to extend the provision of free school meals.
II. Write to the Chancellor the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Surrey’s ten other MPs and the Secretary of State for Education Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, seeking their support for this aim.
Minutes:
Item 11 (i)
Under Standing Order 12.3 the Council agreed to debate this motion.
Under Standing Order 12.1 Robert Evans moved:
This Council notes that:
· The number of pupils entitled to free school meals in Surrey is rising steadily and that more families than ever are becoming reliant on food banks.
· The cost-of-living crisis will lead to a general deepening of health inequalities among children and ‘being hungry’ in the school day will have a detrimental impact on their education.
· Research by the Child Poverty Action Group has shown that the cohort most vulnerable to food poverty is families who are on very low incomes, but who do not qualify for free school meals because their annual household earnings (excluding benefits) exceed £7,400.
· The Government previously rejected the recommendation of its own independently commissioned National Food Strategy, published in 2021 that it should increase the threshold for free school meals up to £20,000, this being the minimum income required for people to afford to feed a family.
· The Government’s Food Strategy (June 2022) states it “will continue to keep free school meal eligibility under review, to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.”
The Council further notes that:
· The Council has used £2.27m of its Household Support Grant to continue providing food vouchers to eligible children over October, December and February school holidays, as well as other measures to help the most vulnerable families.
This Council believes that:
· Free school meals should be a basic right for all children who need them and therefore supports the expansion of free school meals provision to every child whose family is in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent, or with a low-income.
· Provision be made for food vouchers to cover school holidays for all families in receipt of Universal Credit or with low-income.
This Council resolves to call upon the Cabinet to:
I. Look at every possible way in which the Council can do more to assist children in need and to extend the provision of free school meals.
II. Write to the Chancellor the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Surrey’s ten other MPs and the Secretary of State for Education Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, seeking their support for this aim.
Robert Evans made the following points:
· Stressed that it was a timely and important motion at the stage in the year which often highlighted the differences in our unequal society.
· Noted that the motion recognised that many children and families in Surrey were seriously affected by the current cost of living crisis, the price of some essential food products had doubled and consequently, more children were now claiming free school meals in Surrey, one of the country's wealthiest counties.
· Explained that each of the four different devolved nations of the UK had the responsibility for their own free school meals policies, meaning that there were anomalies about geographic location and entitlement.
· Noted the example of Northern Ireland where any child of a family on household earnings of less than £14,000 a year was entitled to free school meals, but in England that figure was as low as £7,400.
· Noted that in Surrey’s schools the cost of a school meal is £2.60 a day or £13 a week which was costly when totalled and for families with several children.
· Noted that for many children the school meal might be their only substantial meal of the day.
· Noted feedback from residents and schools in his division and across Surrey that many children miss out because of the overly restrictive eligibility criteria for free school meals, which in turn affected additional school funding and support which accompanied the free school meals eligibility.
· Noted that recent research by the Child Poverty Action Group found that one third of children in poverty across the country - 800,000 - did not qualify for free school meals; there would be many in Surrey that fell into that category.
· Noted that Members should be pleased that the county had allocated over £2 million worth of food vouchers to help children over the school holidays.
· Noted that there was substantial evidence to show that children who were hungry were less able to learn and to thrive at school.
· Noted that there were many breakfast clubs in Surrey and more families were going to food banks.
· Noted that the motion asked the Council to accept that free school meals should be a basic right for children who need them and that the criteria should be those on low incomes, in receipt of Universal Credit, and that the current arbitrary loophole needed to be eliminated.
· Noted that by agreeing the motion, the Council could set a good example for other authorities around the country.
· Highlighted that the Leader and other Members had a hotline to the Chancellor and leading cabinet members in Government, so was sure that they would put pressure on senior figures to ensure that there would be a fairer, better and more equal distribution of free school meals in the future.
The motion was formally seconded by Will Forster, who made the following comments:
· Reflected that the motion was personal as he was on free school meals as a child at a time when there were not many in receipt of those, compared to now where sadly there were far too many children on free school meals.
· Noted that the Council had done a good job on free school meals, using the £2 million Household Support Grant to make sure food vouchers were given out over the school holidays.
· Emphasised that children were still going hungry, Surrey did not have a fair deal for its children from the Government and it needed one. Surrey’s children were penalised compared to elsewhere in the country.
· Stressed that it was vital to agree to the motion for the Council to work with the Government to expand and roll out free school meals so that hopefully next year no child goes without food and that they could enjoy their education.
Two Members made the following comments:
· The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning thanked the motion’s proposer for tabling the motion, which was in support of the national campaign called Feed the Future and she noted that there was a Ten Minute Rule Bill being introduced in the House of Commons pressing for universal free school meals for all children at primary school.
· The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning noted that unprompted by the motion she had already written to the Government’s Children's Minister expressing concern about the issue and asked for the extension of free school meals provisions; she had also raised the issue last week at a meeting with six of Surrey’s MPs to ask for the provision to be extended.
· The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning noted her personal ambition that no children are left behind and noted that last November she introduced the Council's Child Poverty Action Plan for Surrey, which underpinned the work being done on levelling up across the Council’s directorates, in partnership with the borough and district councils.
· The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning noted that eligibility for free school meals was a passport to other benefits such as holiday school vouchers and schools could receive the pupil premium for those children to try to close the attainment gap which was disproportionate in Surrey.
· The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning noted that there was a gap between children's eligibility for those free school meals and the actual take up of the of those meals by the families concerned, she had asked the service to work with schools in the new year to address that.
· The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning noted that she would gladly write to the Chancellor, the Secretary of State and the other Surrey MPs again and noted that the Conservative Group supported the motion.
· Noted their role as a founder of a charity that runs a food bank and cooked each week to provide a hot meal for those in the queue, along with providing food education and was often assisted by local young people.
· Noted that the focus for the aforementioned food bank was to support the local free school meals families, of which there were many and all was done to ensure that the children did not go hungry; that support was there weekly regardless of holidays and without any assessments.
· Noted that every family in the UK had felt the impact of recent world events, but for those with low incomes the policy was devastating to children whose development and education then suffered as a direct result; and knew that first-hand having grown up in a low-income family.
· Stressed that it was vital that children were supported, to keep them healthy, able to learn, and to not go hungry because they were Surrey’s future.
The Chair asked Robert Evans, as proposer of the motion to conclude the debate, he made the following comments:
· Stressed that the motion made it clear that the current criteria were flawed and confusing, there were many needy families and children who fell outside the current eligibility criteria and the system was so confusing that children entitled to free school meals did not receive those.
· Hoped that not just the Cabinet but all Members would write to all those listed in the second resolution, putting their words of support into deeds, and writing twelve letters each equating to 972 letters; ensuring that progress would be made.
The motion was put to the vote and received unanimous support.
Therefore, it was RESOLVED that:
This Council notes that:
· The number of pupils entitled to free school meals in Surrey is rising steadily and that more families than ever are becoming reliant on food banks.
· The cost-of-living crisis will lead to a general deepening of health inequalities among children and ‘being hungry’ in the school day will have a detrimental impact on their education.
· Research by the Child Poverty Action Group has shown that the cohort most vulnerable to food poverty is families who are on very low incomes, but who do not qualify for free school meals because their annual household earnings (excluding benefits) exceed £7,400.
· The Government previously rejected the recommendation of its own independently commissioned National Food Strategy, published in 2021 that it should increase the threshold for free school meals up to £20,000, this being the minimum income required for people to afford to feed a family.
· The Government’s Food Strategy (June 2022) states it “will continue to keep free school meal eligibility under review, to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.”
The Council further notes that:
· The Council has used £2.27m of its Household Support Grant to continue providing food vouchers to eligible children over October, December and February school holidays, as well as other measures to help the most vulnerable families.
This Council believes that:
· Free school meals should be a basic right for all children who need them and therefore supports the expansion of free school meals provision to every child whose family is in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent, or with a low-income.
· Provision be made for food vouchers to cover school holidays for all families in receipt of Universal Credit or with low-income.
This Council resolves to call upon the Cabinet to:
I. Look at every possible way in which the Council can do more to assist children in need and to extend the provision of free school meals.
II. Write to the Chancellor the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Surrey’s ten other MPs and the Secretary of State for Education Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, seeking their support for this aim.