Supporting children in Furness
Opposition Day Debates are often - not always, but often - designed to show the government in the worst possible light. In a world of social media and instant reactions, they are carefully crafted to elicit maximum response. And of course, the opposition can ask for the moon because it will not be them responsible for bearing the burden of delivering or paying for whatever it is they asked for.
So on Wednesday night I chose to vote against the Opposition Day Debate motion on extending Free School Meal vouchers or parcels until Easter 2021, and possibly beyond.
We were right to extend the provision from March through to September as the overwhelming majority of students were not in school at the time. I still argue - as do many teachers across Furness whom I have spoken to - that vouchers were not the right mechanism to do so, but on balance I would much rather that families had that money than didn’t. Some £380million of vouchers were redeemed in those months.
So what has changed? Well, primarily students are back in school and those eligible for free meals are getting them once again.
But I also don’t believe that extending free school meals is the right solution to tackling what is a deeper problem - inequality and food poverty. Much of my work over these last few months has been with organisations and MPs from both the left and right of British politics looking at solutions to these seemingly intractable problems that will actually work in practice in Barrow & Furness.
There are also real questions to ask about how this proposed scheme would work. Who should bear the cost of the cooked meals or food parcels outside of term time? How will the staffing costs at schools be covered? Will teachers have to work (perhaps on a rota) to enable this scheme during holidays? Will contracts have to be negotiated and will the unions support such a proposal?
You may consider that these are trivial questions in the grand scheme of things, but once again this is the nature of Opposition Day Debates - with Labour supplying a headline but none of the detail as to how the thing they are asking for is actually meant to be delivered.
What was striking about the debate was that more united both sides than divided us. Extending free school meals is not the only way to approach this issue. We really must recognise that there has been a substantial and sustained flow of support to families throughout this crisis, including £9.3billion in welfare support alone.
Large figures like that are sometimes difficult to comprehend, but the reality is that it translates to the average household having seen an annual uplift of over £1,000. In addition, local authorities have received a share of £63million to get food to those most in need, both young and old, and the government has also invested money into Summer Activity Clubs and School Breakfast Clubs too. More funding for this is on the way.
I believe that we also have a responsibility to ensure that people are able to stand on their own two feet. That is why I would much rather see the provision of support delivered through our flexible and funded welfare system than through schools which should be shut over holidays.
It is also why we should continue to focus on the changes that will make a difference - like lifting the lowest paid out of tax altogether, and ensuring that the system is geared towards giving people the skills they need the succeed.
Schools are hugely important to equipping children for the future and giving them the tools they need to access skilled work, improving the lot for themselves and their families. But they are not designed to be year-round providers of meals to children and nor should they be.
What is most depressing about debates like these is that once politics gets in the way, people often can’t see the wood from the trees. The Government has given substantial sums to local authorities to help families (and not just children) who are struggling to afford food as a result of COVID. One such example is the £63million that was announced for local authorities to target those most in need in June (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/63-million-for-local-authorities-to-assist-those-struggling-to-afford-food-and-other-essentials). Cumbria has had £550,000 for things like school meals and those most in need, and received £1.97million earlier this week in unringfenced funding, again for purposes like these. This pales in comparison to the uplift of £20 every week to UC claimants for this purpose.
I know only too well that there are children in Furness who will go without - not because they aren’t in receipt of a voucher but because they live in a terrible situation that support like that just won’t reach. That’s why we need to target our interventions and make sure that those children are supported - and is what the over- £30million that local government in Cumbria has received is for. Schools know kids best, and local councils know troubled families best. That’s why the support is best targeted through them.
