7,300 children miss out on free dinners

MORE than 7,000 children across Oldham would have qualified for free school meals under plans by the previous Government to extend the scheme.

The Labour Government wanted to change the system to give free school meals to more people on low incomes.

It would have affected families with a household income below £16,190, with figures from the Department for Education showing 7,300 additional children across the borough would have benefited.

The coalition abandoned Labour’s plans but children whose parents are on income support or jobseekers’ allowance will continue to be eligible for the free meals.

Shadow Schools Secretary Ed Balls, who forced the Government to publish the figures through a parliamentary question, said: “The government doesn’t seem to have a clue about the impact of their policies on child health.

“We all have to learn that the Government will allow some schools to turn back the clock to the days of junk food and Turkey Twizzlers by letting them rip up the tough nutritional standards Labour introduced. “No wonder Jamie Oliver, who did so much to help us make school meals healthier and more popular, has criticised the new Government’s approach.”

Schools Secretary Michael Gove accused the previous Labour government of making an underfunded promise over free school meals, “which raised the hopes of the poor without the cash being there to sustain it”.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “All pupils who are currently eligible for free school meals will continue to receive them.

“However, the money originally allocated for the extension of the scheme fell far short of the true cost — to the tune of £295 million over three years — and this Government is not prepared to risk cuts to frontline budgets to meet these costs.

“The Government’s priority for this year has to be to invest the savings we have made on free school meals within our budget, after our contribution to deficit reduction, in measures that most directly affect attainment for the poorest pupils.”

The figures come as Michael Gove will today propose changes to the school admissions code to enable schools to admit children entitled to free school meals in preference to others.