Tackling Holiday Hunger
It is estimated that up to three million children are at risk of going hungry during the school holidays in the UK.
But a new cross-party bill aims to address this issue, by ensuring that local councils offer programmes that provide free meals and activities for children in the school holidays. This would help to reduce holiday hunger for children whose families find it hard to provide good food when free school meals aren’t available.
*Please write to your MP now, and let WI National Federation know their response*
The chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger, Frank Field MP, currently has a private members Bill going through the House of Commons. This Bill is formally known as the School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill, and it would give local authorities the duties and the resources they need to facilitate the delivery of programmes that provide free meals and activities for children who would otherwise go without in the school holidays.
The Bill has cross-party support, with Conservative, Labour, Green, Scottish National Party, and Liberal Democrat MPs supporting it. (Click here for a full list of MPs currently supporting the bill.)
The Bill is expected to have its next stage on Friday 19 January 2018, but for it to go past this stage, over 100 MPs need to turn up to support it. The bill has a much greater chance of being implemented if more MPs support it.
In line with the “Food Matters” resolution passed at the 2016 annual meeting, which calls on the WI to work to tackle the issue of food poverty, we encourage WI members to write to their local MP, asking them to attend the debate to support, and vote in favour of, this Bill. Please do let the Public Affairs team know about any replies you get!
Take action now - write to your MP
You can easily write to your MP using this online tool: www.writetothem.com - or you may wish to write a physical letter.
For more information about the points you might wish to include in your letter see: