(Ben Birchall/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)A London council has waded into the debate over free school meals by writing to the Government calling for the eligibility threshold for children in secondary school to be almost tripled — from £7,400 to £20,000 a year.
A letter to Kit Malthouse, Secretary of State for Education, calls on him to “act now to avert a calamitous hunger crisis” by initiating universal provision of free healthy, school meals for all primary school children, as well as raising the income threshold for all secondary school pupils.
Jasmine Ali, deputy leader and cabinet member for children at Southwark council, said: “Our younger people are experiencing an acute crisis of hunger and food insecurity exacerbated by spiralling food prices. In an alarming number of cases, the only healthy meal eaten each day is the free one provided in schools.”
It comes as Feed the Future, a coalition of campaigning organisations co-ordinated by the Food Foundation, calls on the Government to extend free school meals to all children in poverty in England.
Southwark, where 43 per cent of children under 16 live in poverty, is one of four boroughs in London that have already put universal free school meals in place for primary school children with the costs paid for by the council.
Their appeal is in line with National Food Strategy recommendations published this year.
