Putney MP and Council Leader Welcome Free School Meal Plan
City Hall Conservatives say Mayor's scheme untargeted
Fleur Anderson MP visits a local school
February 24, 2023
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visited his old school in Tooting this week to make a major announcement on free school meals.
As part of a £130 million emergency package, all primary school children will be given free school meals from this September for at least a year.
Putney’s MP Fleur Anderson MP has described the move as ‘fantastic news that will make an enormous, tangible difference in the quality of life of families across Roehampton, Putney and Southfields’.
She added said, “On behalf of all the struggling families in my constituency, I would like to thank Sadiq Khan for stepping in to ensure all children receive at least one hot meal per day. The Conservative Cost of Living Crisis has hit even usually well-off families incredibly hard – everyone is feeling the pinch, and the most vulnerable are facing an extremely difficult year.
“All children have the right to be properly. I am regularly in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields schools and the story is so often the same. Hungry children are struggling to concentrate and learn, and families are choosing between heating and eating. It is a disgrace, and I am extremely pleased the Mayor of London is acting to support all primary school aged children across our capital.”
Polling from City Hall has found that 45% of Londoners say they are now using less energy, water or fuel and 13% say they have been unable to buy food and other essential items in the last six months or have had to rely on outside support such as food banks. The Mayor’s funding aims to ensure 270,000 primary school children in Years 3 – 6 can receive a hot nutritious meal each school day. Universal infant free school meals are already provided for children in Reception and Years 1 and 2.
Making free school meals available to all primary school pupils should remove stigma, as no child is identified as poorer than their peers, helping to improve take-up overall. City Hall has announced that it will work with partners to design a mechanism for delivering this funding to boroughs and schools in a way that builds upon existing processes for school meals funding and doesn’t disadvantage those boroughs that were already providing universal free school meals.
Ms Anderson MP continued, “I have heard truly shocking reports of parents clubbing together to pay for the school meals of children whose families are struggling. Whilst it is always heart-warming to see the generosity and kindness of our community, this simply shouldn’t be necessary. Opening up free school meals to all primary school children takes away any stigma associated with receiving free school meals. I will continue to press the Government to take real action to alleviate the immense financial pressures that families are facing. “
The Mayor said while visiting Fircroft Primary School to make the announcement that he will continue to urge Government to provide the funding needed to make this initiative permanent.
He was joined by Wandsworth Council Leader Simon Hogg who said, "The Mayor’s scheme will run alongside our own Cost of Living response which is helping local people through this crisis and beyond.
"We are committed to delivering a fairer, more compassionate and more sustainable borough and as the Cost of Living crisis bites, local people need our support more than ever.
"This plan to provide all pupils with free meals will help parents across the borough who are worried about how to afford food for their children. It will also stop children going hungry in the classroom so I’m really pleased to see the Mayor taking action on food poverty and intervening in this way."
The Mayor returned to his former primary school in Tooting to make the announcement
However, Conservative Assembly Members (AMs) at City Hall said the plan should instead provide targeted support to lower income families across both primary and secondary schools.
Emma Best AM, the Conservatives’ health spokesperson at City Hall, said, “While I welcome more children having access to free school meals this year, the reality is that many lower income families will be hit hard by a 57 per cent increase in Sadiq Khan’s council tax since 2016 and his £12.50 daily ULEZ charge.
“This one-off package has completely missed secondary school pupils, meaning that lower income parents of older children are paying for wealthier families’ younger children. If the Mayor genuinely wants to help the poorest families, he should be focusing on those most in need across all schools.”
The Mayor countered these objections by saying, “I know though from personal experience, the shame and embarrassment of being labelled a ‘free school meal child’, when the majority of your mates aren’t receiving a free school meal.
“I don’t want any child in London in 2023 to be feeling that embarrassment, that stigma. That’s why I think there are some things that [people] should be eligible [for] on a universal basis. The state pension is a good example. Access to a GP, access to healthcare – and I think access to a nutritious, hot healthy meal as well.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |