Protect London's Universal Free School Meals

The London Assembly today called for Universal Free School Meals for infant school pupils in London to be maintained, following the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

Assembly Members agreed a motion urging the Mayor to lobby the Government to protect Universal Free School Meals funding in London.

Fiona Twycross AM, who proposed the motion said:

“Everyone knows that children do far better at school when they have had a good, healthy meal. With the Mayor’s own evidence showing that 74,000 London children sometimes or often go to bed hungry, he should be doing all he can to get an assurance from government that they won’t withdraw Universal Free School Meals in London.

Impending cuts to tax credits will only make it harder for families to balance their budgets. It falls to the government to limit the impact by ensuring they retain Universal Free School Meals, so that no child goes hungry.”

The full text of the Motion is:

This Assembly urges the Government to maintain Universal Free School Meals for infant school pupils in London, introduced in 2014, when it announces the Spending Review on 25 November 2015.

Universal Free School Meals have been shown to have significant benefits for educational performance of children across the country, and therefore in London, with the 2009-11 pilot schemes generating four weeks additional progress for pupils at Key Stage 1 and eight weeks progress at Key Stage 2. Universal Free School Meals for infants are therefore an important tool for improving attainment in the classroom and reducing the stigma of means-tested free school meals that results in many children failing to claim their meal.

With over 40,000 visits by children to a London food bank last year (2014/15), and evidence from the Mayor that 74,000 London children sometimes or often go to bed hungry at night, it is also clear that Universal Free School Meals can be an important means of tackling child hunger in the capital. At a time when tax credits are due to be severely cut, Universal Free School Meals are also helping the family budgets of parents with young children, who save around £400 a year per child.

This Assembly therefore urges the Government to protect Universal Free School Meals for infant school pupils in London and for the Mayor – who has previously stated his support for the School Food Plan’s recommendation for the rollout of universal free school meals for 4 to 7 year olds[2} - to write to the Prime Minister and Chancellor calling for Universal Free School Meals to be protected.