Minutes:
AMENDMENT MOVED AND SECONDED - This Council meeting notes:
Stockport is highly polarised with having extremes of disadvantage and wealth with parts of Stockport being in the top 1% of least deprived areas and other parts of Stockport in the top 1% of most disadvantaged areas in England and that out of 190 lower super output areas in Stockport, 31 are in the top 20% disadvantaged.
Children and young people in receipt of free school meals are much more concentrated in disadvantaged areas but are none the less distributed across the borough.
Children from areas of deprivation in Stockport do less well by the end of reception classes than children with similar characteristics in other areas of Greater Manchester.
The attainment gap at GCSE for children entitled to Pupil Premium and free school meals and the Stockport average is significant across the borough.
· Within Stockport there are areas of great deprivation, with 17% of the borough being some of the most deprived areas in the country;
· Areas of Brinnington and Central Ward rank within the most deprived 1% nationally; and
· This deprivation gap is translated over to educational attainment, with only 25% of children in Brinnington and Central Ward achieving 5 A*-C GCSEs.
This council meeting recognises that:
· The cost of living crisis impacts on our children and their families;
· The Cabinet are dedicated to ensuring that our most disadvantaged children are not left behind, in line with the levelling up agenda; and
· In order to do this, we must ensure that every child has the nutrition they need to be able to work and learn in the school day, as well as enjoy their time in the school environment.
This council meeting also notes:
· The provision of free school meals offers many benefits to children;
· A hot and nutritious school meal improves children’s concentration and behaviour during lessons and positively impacts on school attendance, children’s health and academic performance;
· Prior to the current cost of living crisis 800,000 school-age children nationally who live in poverty are unable to receive free school meals because their families income surpass the rigid income threshold for receiving free school meals;
· In this respect the Government in England is lagging far behind Scotland and Wales, who have begun to deliver universal free school meals on a class-by-class basis;
· Whilst in the Coalition Government, Liberal Democrats introduced free school meals for all children in years Reception, 1 and 2. This provided healthy, nutritious free school meals to 1.5 million children aged 4-7 across the UK.
· This policy was then scrapped by the Conservative Government in 2017.
· Conservative Governments have announced the scrapping of the universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) but have not acted on this intention thus far.
This council meeting further notes:
· That the continuing cost of living crisis, with soaring food prices, means that more families are struggling to afford school lunches;
· Research by the national children’s health and education charity “Chefs In Schools” found that 85% of primary school teachers said there were children who are ineligible for Free School Meals who would benefit from receiving them and 81% of primary school teachers say in the last 6 months the number of children who come to school hungry had increased;
· Prices of low-cost staple groceries have become 17% more expensive in the past year, making it even harder for families to feed their children1.
· The number of children who are not eligible for free school meals is likely to be growing with the ongoing cost of living crisis;
· Current eligibility for free school meals means a household on universal credit in England must earn less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits), regardless of the number of children in the family, which means that many children from working families in poverty are not entitled to free school meals; and
· Children need healthy, nutritious meals all year round and families in poverty need certainty that this will be provided continuously, outside of term time.
· Stockport MBC since September 2020 has provided vouchers for each child to tackle holiday hunger, funded initially by the Council and subsequently through government grants. This included not only those entitled to free school meals but eventually those excluded because of the Universal Credit restrictions. Government funding changes have now greatly reduced local flexibility and entitlement.
This Council Meeting therefore resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, to call for:
· An alleviation of financial pressure on hard working families struggling to feed their children during the cost-of-living crisis by implementing an urgent extension of free school meals to ensure universal provision for all school age groups, for a time limited period to match the cost of living crisis; and
· A simultaneous review of the eligibility criteria and realistic threshold that would increase the number of children entitled to free school meals, with universal provision to end only once a more realistic threshold has been implemented; and
· Food provision for children on free school meals during the school holidays as standard.
In addition, this Council Meeting recognises:
· There are an estimated 3,626 children living in households in Stockport that are in receipt of housing benefit and/or Council Tax Support but not receiving Free School Meals; and
· That extending means-tested free school meals to ineligible households in receipt of housing benefits and/or Council Tax Support could provide them with the equivalent of approximately £500 of support per child over this next year.
Therefore, this Council believes that the Leader of the Council; the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education; and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources should commit at the February 2023 Council Budget meeting :
· To creating the Stockport Cost-of-Living Free School Meals Guarantee. This will extend means-tested free school meals for one school year from the June 2023 term to children in households in receipt of housing benefit and/or Council Tax support currently ineligible for means-tested free school meals;
· To ensuring that the existing Household Support Fund is directed as far as it can to include those who most need it including households who are in receipt of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit/Council Tax support;
· To utilise any one-off resources available to the Council to fund the Stockport Cost-of-Living Free School Meals Guarantee at an estimated cost of £1.875m as agreed with the S151 Officer; and
· To monitor the social and economic impact of the Stockport Cost-of-Living Free School Meals Guarantee, with reports regularly brought to the relevant scrutiny committees and to full council.
For the amendment 31, abstentions 27
AMENDMENT CARRIED
A named vote was requested in relation to the voting on this amendment.
Those councillors who voted for the amendment were:-
The Mayor (Councillor David Wilson); the Deputy Mayor (Councillor Linda Holt); Councillors Brian Bagnall, Christine Carrigan, Anna Charles-Jones, Laura Clingan, Liz Crix, Dickie Davies, Roy Driver, Dean Fitzpatrick, Colin Foster, Sue Glithero, Louise Heywood, Mike Hurleston, Oliver Johnstone, Rory Leonard, Georgia Lynott, Carole McCann, Tom McGee, David Meller, Janet Mobbs, Dena Ryness, David Sedgwick, Andy Sorton, Charlie Stewart, Catherine Stuart, John Taylor, Kerry Waters, Wendy Wild, Elise Wilson and Matt Wynne.
Those councillors who abstained were:-
Councillors Shan Alexander, Malcolm Allan, Lou Ankers, Paul Ankers, Grace Baynham, Angie Clark, Stuart Corris, Will Dawson, Helen Foster-Grime, Graham Greenhalgh, Steve Gribbon, Ian Hunter, Mark Hunter, Keith Holloway, Jilly Julian, Gary Lawson, Colin MacAlister, Tom Morrison, Wendy Meikle, Ian Powney, Mark Roberts, Vince Shaw, Frankie Singleton, Lisa Smart, Aron Thornley, Sue Thorpe and Suzanne Wyatt.
It was then
RESOLVED (58 for) - This Council meeting notes:
Stockport is highly polarised with having extremes of disadvantage and wealth with parts of Stockport being in the top 1% of least deprived areas and other parts of Stockport in the top 1% of most disadvantaged areas in England and that out of 190 lower super output areas in Stockport, 31 are in the top 20% disadvantaged.
Children and young people in receipt of free school meals are much more concentrated in disadvantaged areas but are none the less distributed across the borough.
Children from areas of deprivation in Stockport do less well by the end of reception classes than children with similar characteristics in other areas of Greater Manchester.
The attainment gap at GCSE for children entitled to Pupil Premium and free school meals and the Stockport average is significant across the borough.
· Within Stockport there are areas of great deprivation, with 17% of the borough being some of the most deprived areas in the country;
· Areas of Brinnington and Central Ward rank within the most deprived 1% nationally; and
· This deprivation gap is translated over to educational attainment, with only 25% of children in Brinnington and Central Ward achieving 5 A*-C GCSEs.
This council meeting recognises that:
· The cost of living crisis impacts on our children and their families;
· The Cabinet are dedicated to ensuring that our most disadvantaged children are not left behind, in line with the levelling up agenda; and
· In order to do this, we must ensure that every child has the nutrition they need to be able to work and learn in the school day, as well as enjoy their time in the school environment.
This council meeting also notes:
· The provision of free school meals offers many benefits to children;
· A hot and nutritious school meal improves children’s concentration and behaviour during lessons and positively impacts on school attendance, children’s health and academic performance;
· Prior to the current cost of living crisis 800,000 school-age children nationally who live in poverty are unable to receive free school meals because their families income surpass the rigid income threshold for receiving free school meals;
· In this respect the Government in England is lagging far behind Scotland and Wales, who have begun to deliver universal free school meals on a class-by-class basis;
· Whilst in the Coalition Government, Liberal Democrats introduced free school meals for all children in years Reception, 1 and 2. This provided healthy, nutritious free school meals to 1.5 million children aged 4-7 across the UK.
· This policy was then scrapped by the Conservative Government in 2017.
· Conservative Governments have announced the scrapping of the universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) but have not acted on this intention thus far.
This council meeting further notes:
· That the continuing cost of living crisis, with soaring food prices, means that more families are struggling to afford school lunches;
· Research by the national children’s health and education charity “Chefs In Schools” found that 85% of primary school teachers said there were children who are ineligible for Free School Meals who would benefit from receiving them and 81% of primary school teachers say in the last 6 months the number of children who come to school hungry had increased;
· Prices of low-cost staple groceries have become 17% more expensive in the past year, making it even harder for families to feed their children1.
· The number of children who are not eligible for free school meals is likely to be growing with the ongoing cost of living crisis;
· Current eligibility for free school meals means a household on universal credit in England must earn less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits), regardless of the number of children in the family, which means that many children from working families in poverty are not entitled to free school meals; and
· Children need healthy, nutritious meals all year round and families in poverty need certainty that this will be provided continuously, outside of term time.
· Stockport MBC since September 2020 has provided vouchers for each child to tackle holiday hunger, funded initially by the Council and subsequently through government grants. This included not only those entitled to free school meals but eventually those excluded because of the Universal Credit restrictions. Government funding changes have now greatly reduced local flexibility and entitlement.
This Council Meeting therefore resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, to call for:
· An alleviation of financial pressure on hard working families struggling to feed their children during the cost-of-living crisis by implementing an urgent extension of free school meals to ensure universal provision for all school age groups, for a time limited period to match the cost of living crisis; and
· A simultaneous review of the eligibility criteria and realistic threshold that would increase the number of children entitled to free school meals, with universal provision to end only once a more realistic threshold has been implemented; and
· Food provision for children on free school meals during the school holidays as standard.
In addition, this Council Meeting recognises:
· There are an estimated 3,626 children living in households in Stockport that are in receipt of housing benefit and/or Council Tax Support but not receiving Free School Meals; and
· That extending means-tested free school meals to ineligible households in receipt of housing benefits and/or Council Tax Support could provide them with the equivalent of approximately £500 of support per child over this next year.
Therefore, this Council believes that the Leader of the Council; the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education; and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources should commit at the February 2023 Council Budget meeting :
· To creating the Stockport Cost-of-Living Free School Meals Guarantee. This will extend means-tested free school meals for one school year from the June 2023 term to children in households in receipt of housing benefit and/or Council Tax support currently ineligible for means-tested free school meals;
· To ensuring that the existing Household Support Fund is directed as far as it can to include those who most need it including households who are in receipt of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit/Council Tax support;
· To utilise any one-off resources available to the Council to fund the Stockport Cost-of-Living Free School Meals Guarantee at an estimated cost of £1.875m as agreed with the S151 Officer; and
· To monitor the social and economic impact of the Stockport Cost-of-Living Free School Meals Guarantee, with reports regularly brought to the relevant scrutiny committees and to full council.