In the last seven months, and over the course of the coronavirus pandemic my team and I having been doing our upmost to ensure that we reply to all South Derbyshire constituent enquiries. Usually, we like to reply and action a case within 14 days of the original correspondence. Nevertheless, due to the sheer volume of correspondence since March that we have received there may have been a slight delay.
I recognise that this is a highly emotive issue, and for that reason explanation is needed. I have decided to issue the following statement.
The Opposition motion called on the Government to directly fund provision of free school meals over the school holidays until Easter 2021. They claim this would prevent over a million children going hungry during this crisis.
Free school meals are not a general welfare measure. They are intended to provide support during term-time periods while children are engaged in learning. The provision of a healthy school meal has been shown to help children concentrate and learn.
The Government of course understands that the Coronavirus crisis has caused enormous disruption, and in recognition of these unprecedented and unpredictable circumstances, took the decision to provide free school meals during the summer holidays.
The Covid Summer Food Fund was created to support disadvantaged children during the summer months. The £120 million fund provided one-off six-week food vouchers to eligible families in recognition of the unprecedented situation they faced over the summer and was available for all children who qualified for freeschool meals.
However, we are now in a different position now with 99 per cent of state schools back open to all pupils and school kitchens reopen.
We are continuing to ensure that children who are eligible for free school meals continue to receive free school meals even if they are required to self-isolate. Schools have been provided with guidance on delivering school meals as pupils return to the classroom, helping them put in place arrangements to ensure all children have the option of a healthy meal while in school, and to support those children eligible for free school meals who are required to self-isolate.
The Government does not agree that free school meals should be extended into forthcoming holidays as this would merely, they believe, be a sticking plaster. Instead, Ministers say they are committed to a long-term solution and have put in place measures to support the most vulnerable families.
Supporting those on lower incomes and vulnerable families is very much at the heart of the Government response to the coronavirus crisis.
The Government believes that the best way of delivering that support is through the welfare system, and not through the provision of free school meals during the school holidays.
Ministers believe that support is best delivered to the most vulnerable families via the welfare system. Since March, an additional £9 billion has been injected into the welfare system above and beyond normal levels of support to help those who are most vulnerable.
Support has been directly targeted at those on low incomes. The standard allowance for Universal Credit increased on the 6th of April from £317.82 to £409.89 a month.
The basic element of Working Tax Credit has increased by £1045 to £3040 from 6th April 2020 until 5th April 2021, benefitting more than four million households.
Payments to those who are self-employed are not currently calculated using an assumed level of earnings, called a Minimum Income Floor. Instead, they are based on actual earnings.
£63 million in welfare assistance funding for local authorities has been provided to support families with urgent needs, including for over the October half-term.
These welfare measures sit alongside one of the most generous coronavirus support packages in the world, including the income protection schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme which have collectively supported 12.2 million jobs, at a cost of almost £53 billion for England alone.
To benefit the poorest in society, the Government has taken 1.7 million people out of tax between 2015-16 and 2019-20. By raising the personal tax allowance to £12,500, 32 million people were provided with a tax cut.
Cumulatively, these measures have benefitted the most vulnerable, and those who are on the lowest incomes. Ministers believe that the most effective way to tackle poverty is to put more money in the pockets of individuals.
A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “Ensuring children and families do not go hungry has always been a priority of the county council and great efforts continue to be made to ensure that doesn’t happen in Derbyshire.
We work closely with and provide funding to Feeding Derbyshire, a countywide partnership led by Rural Action Derbyshire, which works to support and feed people who are struggling either in debt or on low incomes, an issue heightened during the pandemic.
Feeding Derbyshire supports a range of programmes including the school holiday food programme, community food banks and community kitchens across the county.
Currently, 15 holiday hunger clubs are being supported and it is estimated that between 1,300 and 1,500 children and young people will benefit from this during this half term.
We gave £100k to Foundation Derbyshire to distribute to local food banks at the beginning of lockdown in March and we have just agreed to provide a further £150,000 to be distributed in the run up to Christmas.
Earlier this year we received £808,000 from DEFRA to support people who were struggling to afford essentials due to the impact of coronavirus and of that £158,000 was spent on emergency food supplies and a further £40,000 directly on the school holiday food programme.
We work closely with more than 35 foodbanks across the county which are run by our partners in the voluntary, community and independent sector, and families who are struggling are given information about these or other support, including the Derbyshire Discretionary Fund (DDF), which is available to families in receipt of certain means tested benefits.
Up to 12 October 2020 the Derbyshire Discretionary Fund has given support to 3,318 families with children during this financial year totalling £134,310.
Across the county, just over 23,800 children are eligible for free school meals (FSM) and the council has regular drives to promote and encourage parents and carers to ensure they are signed up so their children can receive them.
At the beginning of the pandemic the government provided vouchers for families whose children were eligible for free school meals, and due to some difficulties with registering for the voucher scheme the council’s school catering service provided more than 6,000 food boxes to schools to distribute to families during the Easter holidays and around 1,000 food boxes during Whit week. Each box was worth the value of a week’s school meals per child and the council claimed the cost of providing these from the child’s FSM allowance.
In addition to this, for this October half term, schools have been able to order food parcels from our schools catering service for their families who are eligible for FSM. School pay for this from their budget, and a total of 11 primary schools have purchased these for families.
We believe we are doing all we can to ensure that children in Derbyshire do not go hungry during school holidays and would urge people who are struggling to visit our website and look for information which can help them.
We will continue to keep under review how best to support children and young people within our resources and will look to base our approach on other national support available.
Thank you for contacting me about this important issue which I hope the above gives you a clear understanding of the demand and support needed to feed vulnerable children here in South Derbyshire and England.
