APPG — 30th January 2023

Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Parental Participation in Education heard presentations from Zarah Sultana MP, Magic Breakfast, the National Education Union and Parentkind’s newly-released data from our Free School Meals poll.

Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Parental Participation in Education gathered in Westminster on 30th January 2023. The group exists to promote the benefits of parents actively participating in their child’s education, and of building close and successful relationships between homes and schools. 

Free School Meals For All Bill

Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, updated the group about the progress of the Bill that she proposed in Parliament to extend the eligibility criteria for Free School Meals (FSMs). This would remove the barrier of families having to apply for them and the stigma for children who are in receipt of them by making FSMs universal for every child in primary school in England. The Bill would aim to help ease the impact of the cost of living crisis on families’ household budgets. It would be similar to provision already in place in Scotland and Wales. The MP suggested that it could be paid for through removing the tax break for independent schools. The Bill currently has the backing of 58 MPs and a broad coalition of education stakeholders but has not made it past its first reading in Parliament, though Zarah Sultana aims to propose it again. Chair Ian Mearns, the MP for Gateshead, said that at a school where he is governor, 49% of pupils qualify for FSMs, but families of the other 51% can be equally financially disadvantaged if they narrowly fail to meet the eligibility criteria.

Magic Breakfast

The group heard a presentation from the charity Magic Breakfast about their work in providing breakfasts such as bagels to pupils in partner schools. Their aim is to end hunger as a barrier to education through the provision of healthy breakfasts. Most of their partner schools believe that poverty has increased in their school community in the past year, which is a problem because a child cannot concentrate when they are hungry. Most partner schools also said that breakfast provision has positively impacted educational attainment, and readiness to learn in classrooms has increased. Providing a grab-and-go bagel in the playground can help to build the bridge between parents and teachers at the start of the school day. A breakfast club in school can also allow a parent to get to work when they have jobs that require an earlier start. The breakfasts are made universal, with provision set aside for pupils arriving late. The charity means-tests the school, not the pupils. If schools are eligible to apply for their provision, they roll it out in a universal barrier- and stigma-free way.

Free School Meals poll

Parentkind’s research manager presented newly-released data from its poll of parents in England. About a third of respondents were claiming benefits, and out of that group, just under a third (about 10% of all respondents) had children receiving FSMs due to their household income. The key findings were:

  • 82% of parents think that free school meals should be offered to all children whose parents receive any means tested benefits from the Government
  • 81% of parents believe that free school meals should be offered to all primary school children, whatever their parents’ income
  • 73% of parents say that free school meals should be offered to all children, whatever their parents’ income.
  • 65% of households report being worse off financially compared to a year ago, with 25% saying their finances are about the same as a year ago and 6% saying they had improved.

Parents receiving benefits were more likely than those not receiving benefits to support increasing the eligibility criteria for FSMs, but support was high among parents generally. The meeting concluded with an update from the National Education Union about the teacher strike action that took place at the start of February.