What do you all think about this- government may be expanding the scene to include more working families-
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/food-tsar-henry-dimbleby-serves-up-1bn-meal-plan-to-boris-johnson-w0hdbfjb9
Boris Johnson’s food tsar said last night that the government had a “moral obligation” to stop disadvantaged children going hungry as he announced plans for a £1.2 billion programme to help those most in need.
Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain and the government’s adviser on food strategy, has sent Downing Street a four-point plan to tackle child hunger and urged ministers to “set aside ideology”.
The proposals include a holiday activity and food programme costing £500 million a year, a £100 million healthy food voucher scheme and a £670 million extension of the free school meals programme....
Mr Dimbleby’s plans go far further than the £20 million weekly cost of extending free school meals over the school holidays. He said that the cost of his £1.2 billion package paled in comparison with the £210 billion the government had spent on responding to the Covid crisis. The furloughing scheme alone is expected to cost £47 billion. However, his plans would cost twice as much as the government’s £522 million Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
Mr Dimbleby is calling for a nationwide expansion of the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which was tested in 17 local authorities over the summer. The programme provides children with daily activities and a nutritious lunch and is run by local authorities with funding from central government. He has suggested that its remit could be extended to include maths and English tuition.
Mr Dimbleby is also calling for wider availabilty of Healthy Start vouchers, which enable pregnant women on benefits and parents with young children to buy nutritious food. He said that the value of the vouchers should rise from £3.10 to £4.25 and that the eligibility of the scheme should be extended.
He wants to expand eligibility for free school meals, available at present to those with household incomes of less than £7,400 a year, to all households in receipt of Universal Credit. The approach would lead to an additional 1.5 million children receiving free school meals at an extra cost of £670 million a year.
His final recommendation is for a ministerial task force dedicated to tracking data on child hunger. He said: “The problem is serious, immediate and will get much worse. It needs to be an authentic and proportional response. People will sniff out very quickly if it is just political.”
Dame Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England and Wales, said that the government should adopt Mr Dimbleby’s recommendations “without delay”. Writing for The Times Red Box, she said: “If we can tackle pensioner poverty over two decades via a triple lock, we can tackle child poverty.”
Mr Sunak said the government was “absolutely committed” to ensuring vulnerable children did not go hungry.