Holiday Hunger Bill to help keep children fed during summer passes second stage
Sinn Féin MLA Ciara Ferguson has welcomed backing which ensured that the Holiday Hunger Bill introduced by her party colleague Danny Baker passed its second stage in the Assembly.
The legislation will support 90,000 children during school holidays, and the Bill will now move to committee stage. The Foyle MLA said: "While this measure alone will not end child poverty particularly during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, it represents an important step in supporting 90,000 disadvantaged children and families in our communities. “It is disappointing that the Education Minister could not support a bill that would help thousands of children who rely on free school meals during the holidays. “Sinn Féin is committed to working with all parties in the Assembly to progress this legislation and ensure that support reaches those children who need it most.”
Of the 79 Assembly Members who voted on the move in the Assembly on Monday, 55 members voted in favour while 24 voted against.
Speaking to his motion, Mr Baker said the Bill has been two years in the making.
"I wish that I did not have to bring such legislation to the House," the West Belfast MLA said. “I would have much preferred the Minister of Education to have reinstated the holiday meal payments when we came back to the Assembly and he took office.
"Today, Members of the Assembly have an opportunity to work together to play a role in ending child poverty. Will the Bill alone end child poverty? No, it will not, but it is one piece of a wider puzzle. “The debate is not new to the Chamber. Holiday hunger payments were in place during COVID but were stopped because they could be cut. That is what I am looking to change.
"Evidence suggests that some children can be weeks or months behind their classmates when they return to school after the holidays. Why is that the case? It is because they are hungry and malnourished. The links between deprivation and underachievement are well known. Fifteen per cent of children here live in absolute poverty, with one in three children affected by a lack of food. We must ask this question of the Minister: how can children learn when they are hungry?
“The reality in our schools is that teachers run breakfast clubs, wash uniforms and buy food out of their own pockets, but neither they nor our community and voluntary sector and youth clubs, which do a lot of heavy lifting in our communities, can fight child poverty alone.”
He added: “As I said, the Bill is only one piece of the puzzle. The cost-of-living crisis is crippling families. The Bill targets the most disadvantaged in our communities. In my child's school, 50% of children receive free school meals, and that is the case in many schools, be they in Foyle or in West Belfast on the Falls Road or the Shankill. I want to see the Assembly taking forward other initiatives to end child poverty. One example of that could be universal free school meals. The recent rise in the cost of school meals is having a detrimental impact on families across the North. We have heard that at the Education Committee and in all our offices.”
Speaking in support of the Bill, SDLP East Derry MLA Cara Hunter said it “will ensure that support does not simply stop at the school gate, and it recognises the importance of a child's having the ability to learn and the fact that that does not pause during the school holidays”.
"I firmly believe that, if we are serious about breaking the link between disadvantage and attainment, we must act consistently, not selectively. We cannot champion educational equality during term time and blatantly ignore inequalities and challenges during the school holidays.
"Across the North, families are crying out for support. They have a real desire to see the Executive and Assembly make a real difference that they can feel in their lives. I have had conversations with Danny and can tell that he is genuinely passionate about the issue. The SDLP supports the Bill at Second Stage.”
Education Minister Paul Givan said the cost of implementing the new legislation would mean money having to be taken from elsewhere on a recurring basis.
"Despite the Bill's worthy aspirations, there are many reasons to oppose its passage through the Assembly,” the Minister said. “I will begin with a fundamental issue: the cost of the Bill, which will place an additional burden on my Department's already deficient budget, and the consequential negative impact that such a burden would have on the education of our children.
"As I have said in the Chamber on many occasions, my Department faces an acute budget shortfall. The Finance Minister's draft three-year Budget would create a shortfall of around £600 million in 2026-27, and that increases to over £1 billion in 2028-29.
“The level of cuts required is simply not achievable without doing profound damage to the education provision that children and young people rely on each day. We have already had to make very difficult decisions in my Department's draft five-year budget strategy, which includes even more unpalatable cuts in expenditure. The Sinn Féin Member for South Down says that the DUP is holding back a multi-year Budget, but she does not say that the multi-year Budget creates a deficit of over £1 billion in Education. Are people saying that we should vote for that? Are people saying that the Executive should pass a Budget that would create a £1 billion deficit in Education? What would the devastation look like?
“Against that backdrop, the Bill would impose a new and recurring statutory duty on my Department and the Education Authority to make holiday meal payments without there being any funding mechanism.”