Statement on Sky News story on ‘Holiday Hunger’

The group issued this statement:

‘For many low-income families who are reliant on free school meals during term time, school holidays can be a time of great stress. Throughout these periods, parents have the challenges of managing increased childcare demands, heavier domestic bills and the cost of providing extra meals. Children living in these circumstances can often experience multiple difficulties including hunger, poor-quality food, social isolation, learning loss and family tension.

In January 2017, the Welsh Government announced a year of funding of £500k for ‘Lunch and Fun’ clubs in areas of need during the school summer holidays. This follows the success of ‘Food and Fun Wales’ - an award winning holiday enrichment programme which was piloted in Cardiff during summer 2015.² This will help thousands of disadvantaged children from across Wales to eat well, stay connected to services and engaged in positive fun learning activities. We congratulate the Welsh Government on their support and urge them to maintain and build on this commitment.

The three other UK administrations should commit to playing their part in eliminating the social injustice of ‘Holiday Hunger’ for all children in the UK. We invite all UK administrations to sign up to a shared ambition to eliminate ‘Holiday Hunger’; initiate ring-fenced funding for holiday provision with an associated UK research programme that will inform long-term policy; and support sharing of good practice and evaluation to underpin sustainable approaches.’

Footnotes

1. The group of organisations and experts tackling ‘Holiday Hunger’ includes:

Lindsay Graham, Child Food Poverty Policy Advisor

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming

Food Cardiff

Professor Greta Defeyter, Director of Healthy Living Research Lab, Northumbria University

Malcolm Clark, Coordinator, Children’s Food Campaign

James Cashmore, Director, Soil Association Food for Life

Simon Shaw, Coordinator, London Food Poverty Campaign

Dr Caroline Wolhuter, Head of Social Inclusion & Holiday Kitchen, Ashram Moseley Housing Association

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive, FareShare

Kim Chaplain, Director of Charitable Portfolio, Mayor’s Fund for London

2. The ‘Lunch and Fun’ model was successfully piloted by Food Cardiff, which is a partnership between organisations including Public Health Wales, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and City of Cardiff Council