IRRV Alert - week ending 27th December 2020
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Committee Chair urges Government to reveal plans to tackle child food poverty (21 December 2020)
Committee Chair urges Government to reveal plans to tackle child food poverty
21 December 2020
As the school holidays begin for millions of children, Chair of the Petitions Committee, Catherine McKinnell MP, has written to the Government urging them to provide clarity on plans to tackle food poverty.
The Committee has written a letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and the Secretary of State for Education, after more than 1.1 million people signed the petition End child food poverty – no child should be going hungry started by campaigner and England international footballer Marcus Rashford.
The Government announced a package in November to support vulnerable families in England, but the Committee has noted two key gaps, compared with what the petition asks for:
- Firstly, the Government has declined to expand eligibility for two key initiatives - free school meals, and the Healthy Start voucher scheme - to more families.
- And secondly, the measures in the Government’s winter support package are not future-proofed.
Chair’s comments
“The Petitions Committee welcomes the Government’s support package for this winter, but there are crucial gaps that must still be addressed if it is to meet the goal of ending child food poverty.
“Most of its offerings are either one-off funding pledges, or programmes not guaranteed to continue beyond next year. The Government must look again at the costs and benefits of expanding eligibility for Healthy Start and free school meals to all households on Universal Credit. Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on families living in poverty, but also on those just managing before the pandemic, and we know demand for this support will have increased significantly.”
“It is also essential that the Government provides more certainty to families about whether schemes like the holiday activities and food programme will be made permanent; and outline any plans it has to bring forward a specific long-term plan to tackle food insecurity and child food poverty.
“For many facing children facing poverty this Christmas and beyond the answers to these questions mean the difference between sustenance and starvation.”
Marcus Rashford comments
“The ambition and the objective for 2021 has to be developing and implementing a long-term sustainable framework to combat child food poverty in the UK once and for all.
“It would be false to claim that the Government hasn't invested into this space, but as it stands there are too many children falling through the cracks, living day-by-day without vital support. We need to work collectively to review the current system to determine where we can course-correct to make sure all children are given the best start in life.
“If 2020 has taught us anything it is that any one of us can fall into unforeseen circumstances. We must equip all children to succeed in life and that starts from the day they are born. Regardless of circumstance, not having access to food is never a child's fault. Let's start 2021 with a commitment to change."
Committee Action
In light of the number of signatures the petition attracted, the Petitions Committee has written to Ministers to press for more clarity on the Government’s response. The Committee also plans to hold one or more evidence sessions on this topic in the new year, to examine child food poverty in the UK in more detail and how to build on the Government’s winter support package.