Free School Meals - What price on bad PR?

[NotAllThere]

So the benefits paid directly to the families concerned can be reduced? Great!

Than what they could possibly be in the future, if there weren't free school meals? Yes. So you see that you were just making a big fuss over nothing.

[caffeine man]

School dinners were introduced to the UK in 1906 by the Liberals. The rationale was partly that children will learn better if they're not hungry, and recognising that having children go hungry because their parents are utterly feckless is probably a little harsh. Free school meals started being phased out after WW2 as they were targeted for the poor. It's a bit patronising, but it does ensure that at least some of the money spent on the poor is used for a useful purpose.

Many schools already provide breakfast and spare clothes to deal with children turning up hungry or with damp school uniforms (due to them only having one and it hadn't dried in time).

Extending the idea of at least one healthy meal a day to outside term time seems to me a far better use of money than simply giving money to parents and hoping that all of them will do the right thing. It's not about rewarding bad parenting - it's about not punishing kids for the sins of the parents. Spending money on this will come out of the same budget as benefits, so benefits won't rise as much as they might have done over the years, if this is implemented.

Good point. So the rationale for school meals is keeping kids attentive during lessons. If the kids are not in sessions, then logically they do not need the meals. The parents have been given extra benefits for covid, so this should not really be an issue.

[GhostofTarbera]

Chip shop near me is handing out chips and deep fried pizza slices to starving (fat) kids all this week


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[NotAllThere]

Chip shop near me is handing out chips and deep fried pizza slices to starving (fat) kids all this week


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

I'll give you £20.

[darmstadt]

Ben Bradley, Tory MP for Mansfield:

“One kid lives in a crack den, another in a brothel. These are the kids that most need our help, extending FSM doesn’t reach these kids.”

[SueEllen]

They just can't stop putting their foot in it - Minister claims holiday activities 'more important' than free school meals | Daily Mail Online

Headline-

Millionaire business minister Nadhim Zahawi claims holiday activities are 'more important' to poor children than food as council bosses accuse the Government of 'double-counting' funding to tackle child poverty

[darmstadt]

They just can't stop putting their foot in it - Minister claims holiday activities 'more important' than free school meals | Daily Mail Online

Headline-

Millionaire business minister Nadhim Zahawi claims holiday activities are 'more important' to poor children than food as council bosses accuse the Government of 'double-counting' funding to tackle child poverty

Scrumping, then they can feed themselves...

[Old Greg]

Scrumping, then they can feed themselves...

Forced fruit picking camps would kill several birds with one stone.

[NotAllThere]

“One kid lives in a crack den, another in a brothel. These are the kids that most need our help, extending FSM doesn’t reach these kids.”

Erm. Yes. It even more likely does. (Assuming the poor sod sees a school from time to time). But even so - it doesn't help the poor starving kids in Ruritania...

[SueEllen]

The story that keeps on giving - John Penrose: Tory MP and husband of beleaguered Test and Trace boss blames '''chaotic parents''' in free schools meals row | Politics News | Sky News

John Penrose: Tory MP and husband of beleaguered Test and Trace boss blames 'chaotic parents' in free schools meals row

A Labour minister says John Penrose should look at the Test and Trace system if he wants to see "what chaotic really is".