I voted against Labour’s motion for their Opposition Day debate, which has no legal standing, on extending the Free School Meal (FSM) vouchers or food parcels till Easter 2021, and possibly beyond.
During the unprecedented time at the start of the pandemic, it was right that extraordinary measures on free school meals were taken, reflecting that boundaries between education and home were blurred. We rightly extended The Free School Meal vouchers back in March 2020 to the start of September 2020 as most students were told to not come into school. Therefore, it was appropriate that FSM via vouchers in most cases, were given.
In total, roughly £380 million of vouchers were redeemed in supermarkets over that time period.
Most students are now back in school and those eligible for FSM are getting that provision once again, in their school setting. I believe that the best way to support families all year round is through Universal Credit.
Universal Credit, which we have increased by £1,000 for families this year, provides support to families all year round. The Government are committed to ensuring that young people have the support and opportunities to succeed for the future and we will always provide a safety net to ensure those who need it most are supported.
The Government will continue to provide a safety net for those who need it. We will ensure those most in need are supported – this includes £63 million in funding for councils to provide emergency assistance to families with food, essentials and meals.
The Government are continuing to support our most vulnerable families and children by:
- Ensuring children who are eligible for free school meals continue to receive free school meals if required to self-isolate. We have provided schools across the country with clear guidance on delivering school meals as pupils return to the classroom, helping them put in place the best 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, schools should work with their suppliers to prepare meals or food parcels.
- Temporarily extending the free school meals to families who have no recourse to public funds. We recognise this is a challenging time for families across the country which is why we have temporarily extended free school meal eligibly to include children from families who have no recourse to public funds and have a maximum household income £28,200 for areas outside of London.
- Delivering £63 million of additional funding to councils across the country to help them support families facing financial difficulties, ensuring help is there for those most in need.
- Strengthening welfare support, including a cash injection of over £9 billion into our welfare system this year.
- Establishing a £1 billion Covid catch-up plan to help schools provide additional support to children most impacted by the pandemic. We are making £650 million available in 2020-21 to states schools across England to help head teachers provide extra support to children who have fallen behind, allowing them to decide how to spend the funding through targeted interventions. At the same time, we are putting £350 million towards high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged children, accelerating their progress and narrowing the education attainment gap.
I am proud that this Government is protecting wages for our citizens at a higher level than Germany, Spain and France and I am pleased to see additional support, such as the announcements today from the Chancellor, which you can see in more detail on my Facebook post earlier today.