MIKE HEDGES AM WELCOMES WLESH GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT TO ADDRESSING CHILD HUNGER IN WALES.
Speaking after First Minister’s question at
The Senedd, Mike Hedges said…. ‘It is simply staggering that in 21st
century Wales, children go hungry in school holidays, yet that is the stark
reality faced by many families across Wales and within my Swansea Constituency.
How would the families supported by my colleague Carolyn Harris have managed if
she had not worked so hard to provide lunches for children last summer? Parents
would have been going hungry to feed their children; is this how we want
children to grow up in Wales?
Dealing with the problem of child poverty and
ensuring that every child has the best start in life must be the priority of
the Welsh Government and I am pleased with the ongoing commitment to dealing
with child poverty and childhood hunger outlined by the First Minister today. I
would like him to go further however and
commit to funding breakfast clubs within the school holidays so that children get
2 good meals a day during the school holidays.’
Mike Hedges AM -
Will the First Minister make a statement on efforts to reduce child poverty?
OAQ54648
First Minister of Wales
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I thank Mike
Hedges for that. The Welsh Government’s efforts to reduce child poverty focus
on those practical mitigating measures that lie in our hands and which leave
money in the pockets of families who most need it.108
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Thank you for that
answer, First Minister. Every summer, children go hungry. many parents lose 10
free meals per child per week when schools are closed. I would commend the work
of my colleague Carolyn Harris, who fed well over 5,000 children during the
summer in Swansea East, but that certainly was not getting to all those who
were losing out on the free food. Will the First Minister cost a continuation
of free school breakfasts across the summer holiday, and then look to fund it?
This would be probably the best way of dealing with child poverty in
Wales. 109
First Minister of Wales
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I thank Mike
Hedges for that very important question. It's a sobering fact, Llywydd, that we
can hear a sentence in this Assembly that says 'every summer children go hungry
here in Wales'. We surely ought not just to be willing to hear that as though
it were a matter of course and something that we shouldn't do something about.
Of course, I commend the work of Carolyn Harris in Swansea, which gained a lot
of interest and attention over the summer of this year.110
Llywydd, there are
over 61,000 children in Wales who are receiving a free breakfast in our primary
schools at the census date at the start of this year. The funding has long gone
into the revenue support grant, as we would expect it to do. In this Assembly
term, our focus as a Government has been on the school holiday enrichment
programme, SHEP. We funded it to the tune of £0.5 million in the first two
years of this Assembly term. That rose to £900,000 in this financial year, and,
when money is so scarce, it really is an indication of the priority that this
Government puts on dealing with the practical impact of poverty in the lives of
those children who need our help the most. The SHEP programme provides a meal
for children, but much more than a meal. It involves parents in the preparation
of that meal. It involves a focus on nutritional standards. It provides
physical activity for children as part of the programme. It deals with holiday
learning loss. It's been now rolled out to 21 of the 22 local authorities
across Wales, and that additional funding—£100,000 of that has gone to third
sector organisations, and some of that for the first time will be used to
relieve holiday hunger during the recent October half term.111
So, I absolutely
agree with the points that Mike Hedges has made about the importance of this
subject, and want to celebrate something of the achievements of those
organisations who are working, with our support, to make such a difference in
the lives of children.
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