Charity slams decision to end free school meals in Hull

A leading children’s charity has attacked a decision by Hull City Council’s new Liberal Democrat administration to end its pioneering free school meals policy.

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) today said it was “shameful” that the city’s new leadership had decided to reintroduce charges for school meals before the three-year pilot had been fully evaluated.

Hull introduced a pilot scheme to offer free school meals for all primary aged pupils in May 2004, under the previous Labour administration. But this week Councillor Carl Minns, the new Liberal Democrat leader of the council, has said that free school meals will be withdrawn when the pilot scheme ends in May 2007 because the policy is “unaffordable when there are so many pressures on the council’s budget.”

CPAG’s Chief Executive Kate Green said:

“This is a huge blow for thousands of children in Hull who have benefited from this pioneering free school meals policy. The pilot has already been a huge success with take-up more than doubling, more children eating healthier meals and an increase in pupils’ readiness to learn.

“Re-introducing charges for most families will inevitably mean that fewer children get a decent healthy meal each day. Improving the quality of school meals is, in itself, not enough. Free meals available to all are essential if we’re to really boost healthy eating in school.

“It’s particularly shameful that the new leadership of the council have pulled the plug on free school meals before the pilot has been fully evaluated. Alongside other organisations and supporters of this policy, we will campaign to reverse this damaging and disappointing decision. Cost is obviously an important factor, but the investment needed now could be saved in years to come as children perform better at school, become healthier and the rise in obesity is curbed.

“The narrow eligibility for free school meals across the rest of the country means that many children, including one million who live in poverty, do not qualify in the first place. Even amongst those who are eligible for free meals, one in four children do not get them. Fear of stigma, the bureaucracy involved in claiming them and lack of awareness about who is eligible mean that many children lose out."

Academics studying the pilot believe the free school meals policy has already had a significant impact.

Professor Derek Colquhoun, of Hull University’s Centre for Education Studies has said:

“The data so far tells us that take up of school lunches among Hull’s primary school children has gone up massively, from 36% to 64%, since being offered free to all. This is significant as eating a healthy lunch is vitally important to improving health and educational achievement.”

According to the researchers early indications are that children’s “readiness to learn” is already improving.

Notes to Editors:

1. Hull’s pilot project was featured in Recipe for Change: a good practice guide to school meals, a recent book published by CPAG advocating the case for free school meals.

For further information please contact:
Alex Belardinelli
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
abelardinelli@cpag.org.uk