From the chapter ‘Health‘
Sharon Hodgson, Member of Parliament and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food
‘A hungry child cannot learn’ is a phrase widely used within the school sector when we advocate for better food provisions for children. This simple phrase masks an incredibly complex reality for children and young people facing food insecurity. This remains just as true now as it was when the idea of schools providing meals for children was first taking shape at the beginning of the 20th century.[i]
Through my time in Parliament, I’ve been proud to fight for school food and solidify its position on the policy agenda. In 2010 I set up, and have chaired ever since, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food, which brings together cross-party parliamentarians and experts from the sector to discuss better provisions in school food and to campaign for children receiving high-quality meals in and outside of school.
The history of the campaign
The effects of poverty on children’s diets and development have been raised in policy making across the last 130 years, and many of the arguments and issues remain the same as when it was first broached.
The first recommendation for free school meals published in the UK came from Margaret McMillan who, along with Dr James Kerr, carried out the first medical inspection of primary-aged children (in Bradford) in 1894.[ii] She insisted that if the state made education compulsory, it must also take responsibility for the proper nourishment of school children. Alongside Fred Jowett (who became a Labour MP in 1906), she worked with the Bradford School Board to provide free school meals to the children of Bradford – something that was actually illegal at the time.
In Parliament, Jowett was instrumental in the government’s decision to bring forward the School Meals Act 1906, and the Education (Provision of Meals) Bill 1914, allowing Local Education Authorities to provide free meals to elementary school children, funded out of the local rates. But not all local authorities followed this example. In 1917, in a context not dissimilar to today, with families going hungry, struggling with food shortages, rocketing food prices and fewer shifts in the coal mines, 1,000 children in Washington, the constituency I now represent, went on school strike to successfully demand food provisions through free school meals. Over a century later, children living in the same area face the same conditions.
So since 1892, the responsibility of the state to ensure school children are fed has been firmly on the policy agenda, being developed and debated across 130 years, to what we have now.
A situation paralleled
Much of the Victorian rationale behind the need for school and state involvement in combating child hunger is paralleled in today’s world, despite years of advancement in nutrition, provision and standards.
The Food Foundation estimates that at least 4 million children (26%) were living in households experiencing food insecurity in the UK in September 2022, where their family income is insufficient to afford the government’s recommended standards for a healthy diet.[iii] With such large numbers of children struggling to get access to healthy food, we’re at risk of a whole generation of young people growing up into unhealthy adults – the last time the UK suffered these issues at scale was in Victorian times.
In today’s context of international food chain issues matched by a domestic cost of living crisis, food insecurity is at risk of becoming even worse. The Food Foundation has reported that in the first three months of 2022 there was a 57 per cent increase in households cutting back on food or missing meals – the highest level since the start of the pandemic, and one that disproportionately affects Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) families, people with disabilities and households in receipt of Universal Credit (75 per cent of which are in-work).[iv]
Not only can food poverty cause families and young people profound anxieties and distress, making the learning experience challenging; the subsequent malnutrition also generates sinister risks for our young people’s health in the effects of hunger and obesity – two sides of the same coin within food insecurity.
The effects of food insecurity for children and young people will exacerbate the disparities in health and economic outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and propel regional inequalities for areas with higher deprivation.
A post-pandemic world
Before the pandemic, I co-chaired the Children’s Future Food Inquiry that spoke to young people who were rationing their own food at home to make it stretch – unbelievable for the fifth richest economy in the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some of the deep inequalities that exist in access to food. This was highlighted particularly through how food was managed during school closures – from the vouchers system, which suffered from administrative issues to the meal packages, which saw halves of peppers wrapped in cling film being sent to families. This wasn’t the fault of those on the front line who worked beyond the call of duty to make this happen, who worked tirelessly to deliver parcels to families by hand and provide support in our communities.
Influential bodies within the sector have begun to raise new questions regarding the eligibility offer for the provision of free school meals to children. Currently, in England, children under the age of seven are universally provided with a free school meal under the Children and Families Act 2014, but young people above the age of seven must come from families with a household income, excluding welfare payments, of less than £7,400. This means many children experiencing poverty remain ineligible for a free school meal; the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) reports that one in three (about 800,000) of all school-aged children in poverty in England are not entitled to a free meal at school.[v]
Similarly, the issue of holiday hunger held national attention through the pandemic, with public figures such as Marcus Rashford joining the call for better provisions for the estimated 2 million children in England who might usually rely on free school meals or breakfast clubs across the 170 days per year on average that they are not in school.[vi]
As Jowett said in 1914, ‘it is hardly worth arguing that if food is necessary when the school is open for ordinary purposes it is equally necessary when the school is not open for those purposes and during the holidays.[vii]
In the UK, there is no official measurement or monitoring for food insecurity levels, therefore the number of children facing holiday hunger must be estimated. However, during the pandemic those eligible for free school meals continued to receive help during non-term time via direct cash transfers to parents. The government’s Holiday Activity and Food programme was also implemented to stem the extent of holiday learning loss and holiday hunger; it has since been extended following favourable outcomes.[viii]
Beyond lunches
School food policy making extends beyond lunches, incorporating policies inclusive of breakfast clubs,[ix] food standards regulation (including portion sizes and nutritional value), the provision of free water[x] and food education for children, parents and guardians to ensure health awareness into adult life.[xi]
Schools are the one place where government can ensure consistency of access for all children and young people to healthy and filling food – therefore it is vital to ensure that no hiccups are allowed to threaten getting that meal on the table. There is little room for error, which is why we campaign to put the issue of food insecurity – and the impact that this has on children – at the forefront of the government’s mind.
Policy making for children’s futures
In 2022 the government responded to the Independent Review towards a National Food Strategy, determining the future ambition for food policy.[xii] The Review brought forward clear recommendations on school food that have the backing of industry experts, leading charities and the Food Standards Agency. However, the Review’s own author, Henry Dimbleby, criticised the government response, saying it was ‘not a strategy’. The government’s policy response to the plan lacked the ambition to tackle the crisis in food prices or to set out any strategic plan for the future of food in Britain, consisting of only statements of vague intentions. It did even less for school food.
School meals programmes have the potential to play a fundamental role in improving the health and well-being of young people in the UK, and should become part of the long-term response to both the climate crisis and incoming food insecurity crisis globally.
There is much more to be said about how we make school food perfect. Much of that learning can be enabled through the international School Meals Coalition, which is an emerging initiative of governments (inclusive of Brazil, China and the USA), and a wide range of partners aiming to re-establish, improve and scale up food and education systems post-pandemic, while achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The 2022 UK government has indicated it has no desire to join this coalition. With over 418 million children now benefiting from school meals worldwide (an extra 30 million compared to 2020), and 41 per cent of children enrolled in primary school with access to a free or subsidised daily school meal, there is much learning yet to be shared.[xiii]
It is important that policy makers listen directly to children and young people who reflect on food insecurity and school food. As the Children’s Future Food Inquiry showed, involving children in the journey towards policy making can be incredibly beneficial to public policy that directly affects them.
As long as children facing food insecurity in the home fail to access healthy food because of their social or economic circumstances, the government is failing children. The mission for a future where all children can thrive must be matched by a mission for a better school food service inside and outside of school, to combat food insecurity and malnutrition. The issues relating to school meals provision and holiday hunger need immediate attention from the government, because hungry children are still with us, and we have a duty to future-proof the capacity for all children to learn, grow and develop to ensure we can truly succeed in raising the nation.
Notes
[i] Holland, F. (2022) ‘Lessons from the dining hall: The history of free school meals ad the changes needed to improve pupils’ nutrition’, Food Matters Live, 1 April, https://foodmatterslive.com/article/the-history-of-free-school-meals-in-the-uk-and-the-changes-needed
[ii] Erichsen, V. (1993) ‘The health of the school child? An historical comparison of inspection schemes in Britain and Norway’, Dynamis: Acta Hispanica and Medicinae Scientiarumque Historiam Illustrandam, 13: 29–53.
[iii] The Food Foundation (2022) The Superpower of Free School Meals: Evidence Pack, https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-11/FSM%20Evidence%20Pack_0.pdf
[iv] The Food Foundation (2022) ‘Millions of adults missing meals as cost of living crisis bites’, Press release, 9 May, https://foodfoundation.org.uk/press-release/millions-adults-missing-meals-cost-living-crisis-bites
[v] CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) (2022) ‘800,000 children in Poverty not getting free school meals’, Press release, 9 June, https://cpag.org.uk/news-blogs/news-listings/800000-children-poverty-not-getting-free-school-meals
[vi] GOV.UK (2022) ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’, Academic year 2021/22, https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics
[vii] Jowett, F. (1914) Speech on school meals, www.ukpol.co.uk/fred-jowett-1914-speech-on-school-meals
[viii] DfE (Department for Education) (2022) ‘Holiday activities and food programme 2022’, www.gov.uk/government/publications/holiday-activities-and-food-programme/holiday-activities-and-food-programme-2021
[ix] DfE (Department for Education) (2022) ‘National school breakfast club programme’, www.gov.uk/guidance/breakfast-clubs-programme-2021-2023
[x] Finlay, J., Danechi, S., O’Donnell, M., Roberts, N. and Sutherland, N. (2019) ‘The Children’s Future Food Inquiry’, Debate pack, 7 May, https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2019-0110/CDP-2019-0110.pdf
[xi] Dimbleby, H. and Vincent, J. (2013) The School Food Plan, www.schoolfoodplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/School_Food_Plan_2013.pdf
[xii] National Food Strategy (2021) The Plan, www.nationalfoodstrategy.org
[xiii] World Feeding Programme (2023) The State of School Feeding Worldwide 2022, www.wfp.org/publications/state-school-feeding-worldwide-2022