Senedd Members explain vote against extending free school meals

“A one-line motion was presented as part of an opposition day debate referring to free school meals (FSM).

“In my view, a responsible government can’t introduce a law which could have numerous consequences for existing programmes based on a single line motion.

“In the motion as presented, there were no costings, no indication as to how the supporting data would be gathered and no way to ensure that other programmes wouldn’t have to be cut to fund it.

“Many members in the debate in the Senedd asked the Plaid spokesperson how her proposal would be afforded and how unintended impacts on funding for other programmes, such as Flying Start, would be avoided.

“Manifestos will be prepared in advance of the Senedd election and launched in April, which is around the time the Welsh Government pledged, in an amendment, it would be possible to review the stats behind FSM uptake.

“I rarely criticise other political parties and always do so with great caution. All I would say in this case is that I believe the motion was presented with the aim of setting up dividing lines that could be easily used on social media, rather than seriously addressing the issue.

“Indeed, during the debate, Plaid made it clear that it would not be their intention to introduce the change immediately either- they would take a ‘phased approach’, which is not very far away from the evidence-and-review approach proposed by the Welsh Government during the debate.

“By way of context, when it was announced that schools would close in March, the Welsh Government quickly confirmed that children would continue to benefit from the free school meals scheme.

“Wales was the first country in the UK to guarantee ongoing funding for children to continue to benefit from free school meal provision up to and including the end of the summer holidays.

“Overall, £52 million has been made available to continue free school meal provision during the pandemic. This includes provision for school holidays up to and including Easter 2022.

“Not all parents in Wales whose children are eligible for free school meals claim them. In these difficult times, it is more important than ever that we make sure everyone who is eligible for free school meals claims them.

“I was therefore very pleased to see the Welsh Government launch a joint campaign, during lockdown, with the Welsh Local Government Association to encourage take-up.

“The responsible way forward here is to review the income threshold for receiving free school meals when Pupil Level Annual School Census data becomes available in April 2021 and then develop a costed policy around that. I voted to do that.

“I believe that it is better to solve a problem properly, addressing the potential consequences rather than doing what is politically expedient in the short term but has longer term consequences for those we seek to help.

“Suffice to say, the decision not to back the motion was not for the reasons presented by some on Twitter.”

“While I did not support the Plaid Cymru motion, I can assure you I fully support the provision of free school meals and their extension as is evidenced by the fact that I, and other Labour MSs, supported the Welsh Government decision to extend free school meals to all children in Wales during the pandemic and school holidays. Wales was the first country in the UK to do this.

“On Wednesday, Plaid tabled a totally uncosted proposal in a one line motion. Because it was uncosted and lacked any detail, they knew Welsh Government couldn’t sign up to it, but used it to say that Labour is opposed to free school meals. 

“They know that to be patently untrue. In fact, if you followed the Senedd debate, every Labour speaker, including government ministers, spoke in support of free school meals.

“As I said, Wales was the first nation of the UK, under a Welsh Labour Government, to ensure that children in receipt of free school meals continued to receive these meals during the pandemic and into school holidays.

“This is where action speaks louder than words. We didn’t talk about it, we did it. Fully costed, and as a matter of principle.

“During the debate this week, Plaid were asked about the cost of their proposals and their spokesperson said they were not prepared to give us their “workings out” in case we pinched the idea.

“They were also asked several times, if extending free school meals in the way they proposed was to be introduced now, where would they take the money from to pay for it – the point being that all Welsh Government funding is currently fully committed and if money is diverted into this, it would have to be taken from somewhere else.

“Now, if you are saying that this is an important priority policy, that is fine, but you also then need to say what you would de-prioritise to pay for it. It is also worth pointing out, that Plaid were not just calling for the extension of free school meals provision to the poorest children, but universally extending free school meals to all children, even from the wealthiest families.

“Again, the principle of such a universal benefit is one I support, but not at the expense of targeted policies to tackle child poverty when budgets are under as much strain as they are at present.

“I’m afraid this is a typical opposition tactic, presenting an uncosted proposal lacking any detail on an emotive issue and then say that we are opposed to it when they know Government has to work within existing budgets and cannot, on a whim, just accept an uncosted new policy. 

“That is not how you make policy, that is not how you develop legislation. Expect to see a lot more of this in the run up to the election.

“Welsh Government submitted an amendment to Plaid’s original motion which set out and recognised the work that has been done in dealing with the issue of child hunger to date, and what is being considered for future policy in relation to free school meals.

“It was this amended motion that I supported. So, I did not vote against free school meals, I voted for a different approach than that proposed in the Plaid motion so that the issue could be properly considered for best effect.”

“Our Welsh Government and Caerphilly Council have gone above and beyond this year to make sure that free school meals pupils have been able to get good, healthy meals, throughout the year.

“Wales has the best free school meal offer across the UK and Marcus Rashford has praised our swift response to this urgent need in protecting the most vulnerable children across the country.

“After a decade of Tory austerity and the economic impact of coronavirus, our budgets are stretched to their absolute limits and we need details on where funding will come from.

“I was disappointed that when I asked Plaid Cymru for these details they told me I’d have to wait for their manifesto. This should be about providing the best support for our young people, not party political point scoring.”