I beg to move, That this House has considered free school meals. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. It is a great honour to introduce this debate on free school meals—the first opportunity to discuss this important issue since the general election.

Today’s debate was prompted by my conversations with primary school teachers in my constituency, who told me of their concerns at the lack of funding for free school meals and breakfast clubs.

The number of children in our country going to school hungry is unacceptable, and that impacts families in my constituency of Eastleigh and across the UK. The chance to have the best start in life should be available to all children, regardless of background.

The cost of living crisis has driven countless families into hardship. The Government’s own figures estimate that 4.3 million children, or 30% of all children in the UK, are living in poverty, with the figure at 21% in my constituency. As of January 2024, 18.

5% of pupils in Eastleigh—that is 2,426 children—were entitled to benefit-based free school meals, yet we know many more who would benefit from a free school meal do not meet the strict eligibility criteria and miss out.

The Government must look at this issue with the urgency it requires, because those children are being failed.

While I was the leader of Wokingham borough council, I ensured that we funded free school meals during the school holidays for children who received them during term time.

That was absolutely the right thing to do to ensure that children were not left hungry and at a disadvantage because of their background. The Times reports that 1 million children face losing their free school meals. Does my hon.

Friend agree that that is troubling, and that the Government must ensure that children entitled to free school meals continue to receive them during school holidays?

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and I absolutely agree. I also congratulate him on the work that he did at the council to ensure that children did not go hungry in the school holidays. I wish more and more councils were able to do that.

How are children supposed to get good grades at school, engage in sports and achieve their dreams for a better future if they are hungry? Four in five teachers told the National Education Union that they see children unable to concentrate due to the impact of deprivation.

Polling of 10,000 teachers across England conducted by School Food Matters showed that a quarter of teachers have used their own money to feed children. For families who are struggling, a free school meal would make a huge difference.

When children are well fed, they perform better at school, are healthier, and have improved long-term outcomes.

I thank the hon. Member for securing this important debate, particularly as we might be about to receive the outcome of the child poverty strategy review. Does the hon. Member agree that we have a postcode lottery at the moment?

Three schools in Liverpool posted postcards to the Prime Minister saying that we needed to do away with the postcode lottery, because if you live in London, Scotland or Wales, you receive free school meals.

Do you agree that children going to school hungry in the sixth richest economy in the world is a scourge on this country?

Order. Will Members address the Chair, not one another directly, please?

The hon. Lady made an excellent point, and I trust the Minister will address it later in the debate.

One headteacher in my constituency who leads a school of over 600 pupils told me the only way he would be able to resource breakfast clubs is to extend the teachers’ directed time and remove some of the vital continuing professional development interventions and clubs that support disadvantaged pupils.

He worries that he will have to cut back on those initiatives to free up time to run breakfast clubs. Mrs Strong, headteacher at Chander’s Ford infant school, told me that, although the cost of school meals has increased, the funding schools receive has not kept pace.

My hon. Friend makes a point that I want to draw out. Gattons infant school in Burgess Hill in my constituency is paid £2.53 per meal, but the caterers charge it £3.15 per meal, so there is a shortfall of 62p per meal per child per day, which amounts to £7,839 over a year.

Added to that, the caterers now charge the school an additional £2,000 per year to take away all the waste from the meals. That is a colossal amount of money for a small infant school to sustain. Does my hon. Friend agree that schools should be compensated for the true cost of free school meals?

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Schools are now being forced to subsidise meals from their already overstretched budgets, which takes away from vital resources such as staff salaries and school supplies.

For Chander’s Ford infant school, the cost of providing meals now exceeds Government funding by £1.11 per meal, forcing it to find another £31,468 out of its budget for the financial year.

Schools should not be forced to cut services or make tough decisions to cover the cost of meals that should be fully funded.

My hon. Friend said that it is important that children are well fed, and I want to focus on the word “well”. Does she agree that this is about not just the amount of food that we provide for children, but the quality?

It is really important that children receive highly nutritious content that releases energy slowly throughout the day and enables them to concentrate.

Does she agree that, given that school face such difficulties with their budgets, there is an understandable temptation to look at less costly solutions for food, which is potentially very dangerous for children’s long-term health outcomes and ability to learn?

I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called to speak in the debate.

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the smile was for both reasons.

The hon. Gentleman makes a point about those who are eligible. Schoolchildren in my constituency are complaining about bus services in Epsom and Ewell. They cannot get on to some of the buses, which means they are incredibly late for school.

That is one of the reasons why they miss the breakfast option. While I welcome the introduction of free breakfast clubs, does the hon. Gentleman agree that free hot lunches are key to helping those who need them most? Those who are not there for breakfast also cannot get lunch.

However, if they had a free hot lunch, even if they are late to school, they would still be able to have a hot meal.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point.

However, as a new Member who strongly welcomes the new breakfast club initiative, I point out that in my constituency, like many others, only one in 10 schools currently offers a free breakfast club to children.

Many of the schools that do offer one rely on companies such as Greggs, and the generosity of parents and teachers to put on the clubs.

While I understand that there may be some kinks in the system as we roll out the early adoption scheme, is it not better that the Government are stepping forward, providing funding and working with teachers and schools, rather than relying on the generosity of private businesses and the teachers themselves?

I thank all the Members who have spoken in this debate.

The biggest takeaways for me are that the way to ensure that all children have enough to eat at school is to raise the threshold for families who qualify for free school meals, to scrap the two-child benefit cap and to have auto-enrolment for free school meals.

I urge the Government to listen to the lived experiences of teachers who are trying to deliver free school meals or breakfast clubs, because they are all struggling, in my constituency and across the UK. It is really important that the Government take that on board. Question put and agreed to.

Resolved, That this House has considered free school meals.