MPs urged to back holiday hunger bill
The Head Teachers’ union NAHT wants MPs to back a draft law that would force councils to provide meals and activities for pupils in school holidays.
A private members bill proposed by Labour MP Frank Field will get its second reading in the House of Commons today. If passed, the School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill will give councils a legal duty to ensure free meals are provided to children who need them during the school holidays.
Field chairs the all-party parliamentary group on hunger, which revealed in April that giving just over £100,000 a year to every council would could end holiday hunger.
Ahead of today’s vote on whether the bill will continue to pass through parliament, NAHT president Anne Lyons has called on politicians from all parties to unite in favour of the bill, which she said could prevent four million children in the UK from “suffering the unnecessary tragedy of holiday hunger”.
Read the full article on Schools Week.