After ‘hamper’ fiasco, Tories want to deny kids free school meals during half term week. But what are they hiding with all this noise?
Scandal: only two days ago, the Tory government came under attack for letting an outsourcing company skim £25 in profit from the cost of a £30 food hamper FOR CHILDREN. Now the Tories are trying to confuse parents by forcing them to apply to their local council for food vouchers over half term week. Is it all a big distraction from something else they don’t want us to see?
Isn’t it incredible?
Days after they were found to have been starving children by outsourcing £30 ‘free school meal’ hampers to a company that provided only £5 worth of food and kept the other £25 to itself, the Conservative government has announced a plan to starve schoolkids during half term week.
They say they won’t allow schools to provide free meals to pupils who usually get them; instead, local councils have been given responsibility to provide food under the Covid Winter Grant Scheme.
This scheme provided £170 million to councils in December. Under it, families have to apply to their local council for help, and will get a £15 voucher for each qualifying child.
It seems a deliberate attempt to cause confusion by switching schemes just when families need clarity.
And how much of that £170m fund has been spent already? It’s not a lot, divided across the whole of England (other UK countries have equivalent schemes, according to the government).
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, warned that switching schemes meant “yet more disruption to free schools meals could lie ahead in half term”.
He said that rather than allowing schools to carry on providing food it would cause an “unnecessary logistical nightmare”.
He said ministers should now “hang their heads in shame” for threatening more “chaos and confusion” over providing food.
“These are battles which should not have to be repeatedly fought,” said Mr Courtney.
But they are.
And both the media and the public tend to focus on recurring issues like this, to the exclusion of other matters happening at the time.
School meals don’t cost a huge amount – in government terms – and it won’t cause too much upset if the Tories are forced to capitulate again.
So This Writer is left to ask what else is happening that the Tories don’t want us to know?
Source: Row over half term free school meals plan – BBC News
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