On Monday 24 May, MPs debated Marcus Rashford MBE’s petition on ending child food poverty, which received over 1 million signatures. It calls on the Government to support vulnerable children by widening access to free school meals, stopping holiday hunger and expanding the Healthy Start scheme.
In the Westminster Hall debate, Stephen highlighted evidence given to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which he chairs, demonstrating the sharp rise in relative child hunger. The Committee’s inquiry into children in poverty has already found that food bank usage has doubled during the pandemic and that 18% of schools have started their own food bank since the first lockdown.
Stephen also raised the plight of families with No Recourse to Public Funds and highlighted the urgent need to ensure children affected by this condition do not go hungry. He welcomed the Government’s decision to expand free school meals to children from families with No Recourse to Public Funds and urged the Minister to make this change permanent.
Speaking at the debate, Stephen said “we need a clear Government focus on tackling this growing problem of child poverty. Extension of free school meals at the start of the pandemic for families with No Recourse to Public Funds was exactly the right thing to do. I hope that will be made permanent.”