Free school meals
11.03.10
Free school meals are socially right, they’re popular with parents and they’re a doorstep winner for Labour GMB tells conference.
A GMB motion calling for universal free school meals to be included in the Labour Party Manifesto at the forthcoming general election was carried at the 2010 TUC Women’s Conference meeting in Eastbourne today. The text of the motion is as follows:
"Beating the Tories – Free School Meals" Conference congratulates the Labour Party on its record of implementing a raft of policies which have promoted and enhanced women’s and children’s lives. New policies are needed to build on these, showing the electorate the clear divide between Labour and the Tories.
Conference notes the importance of delivering a work-life balance that allows parents the ability to raise and support children, going into the next election with a set of policies that give our children a bright start, specifically affordable good quality childcare; free school meals to all primary age children and access to services that support and enhance their wellbeing
Free school lunches will lead to:
Improved concentration and educational achievement enhancing future prospects
Children having a healthier diet, reducing the demand on other services, especially the health service
Women are the ‘shock absorbers’ of poverty – going without food to ensure their children are fed. A fifth of children eligible for free school meals fail to claim them, often because they are unaware or fear being stigmatised by being identified as coming from a low-income family. The provision of free school meals should be prepared and provided by in house labour.”
Kameljeet Jandu GMB Equality and Inclusion officer told the Conference “Labour took the bold step of piloting universal free school meals in two local authorities, Newham and Durham. They’re already a big hit. Children love them, and so do the teachers—in fact everyone’s been beating a path to the canteen at lunchtime.
Free school meals are socially right. They’re popular with parents. They’re a doorstep winner for Labour. And Labour knows that it’s onto a good thing. Just before Christmas the Government announced that it would launch a whole new set of pilots.
Now is the time to go further: free school meals for all primary-school children!
The Tories looked at the pilot in Newham, and said providing free school meals for all was great for children and families. It clearly led to a better diet and happier pupils in the classroom. It clearly improved learning and behaviour. But the Tories went on to say they wouldn’t support it, because it costs money.
So an old story, Tories put children after their wallets and the Lib Dems are of the same view—they scrapped the successful free school meals that Labour had introduced in Hull.”
