HUNGER: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH€¦ · 1 1 HUNGER: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH Matthew Patten, CEO...
Transcript of HUNGER: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH€¦ · 1 1 HUNGER: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH Matthew Patten, CEO...
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HUNGER: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Matthew Patten, CEO Mayor’s Fund for London:
This short report brings together just a handful of the shocking statistics
around “holiday hunger” – the problem of increasing numbers of children not
having regular, nutritious meals during school holidays.
In October 2015, the London Food
Poverty Profile report by Sustain,
Beyond the Food Bank, underlined
the stark reality for many children
during the school holidays. It
showed that some 220,000 London
pupils from families living below the
poverty line are enrolled in free
school meals , while more than half
a million of the capital’s children
will struggle for food during the school holidays. The report also estimated
that there are some 1.5m London children living in poverty but not eligible
for free school meals.
The Mayor’s Fund for London has already worked with 14 clubs, delivering
4,000 meals to more than 600 children and young people in London as part of
a pilot project and it’s now time to expand our work to ensure no child or
young person in London has to go without nutritious meals during the school
holidays and the social interaction that go with them.
We hope the details on the following pages will give you a greater
understanding of what many children face for many weeks of the year
outside of term time and will move you to get involved.
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THE PROBLEM OF HUNGER
The information contained in this section of this report pulls together key insight from
three major studies:
Qualitative Evaluation of Holiday Breakfast Clubs in the UK
School Holiday Food Provision in the UK: A Qualitative Investigation of Needs,
Benefits and Potential for Development
Britain’s not-so-hidden Hunger: A progress report from the All-Party Parliamentary
Group on Hunger
Food poverty has been defined as ‘the inability to
afford or to have access to food to make up a healthy
diet1. And while 98% of people affected by food
poverty live in developing countries2, there is an
increasing number of UK families relying on food aid.
Statistics from the Trussell Trust, Fareshare and Food
Cycle suggest there was a 54% increase in the number
of families accessing food banks between 2012/2013
and 2013/2014.
And a progress report from the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Hunger: Britain’s not-so-
hidden hunger, cited that in an age of “rampant child
obesity” there had been a shock increase in the
number of children starting their first and final years
of school who are under weight. According to the
National Child Measurement Programme, in 2015
(CHECK) some 6,367 children started reception class underweight – an increase of 16% since
2012 and 7,663 children started their first year of primary school underweight – an increase
of 15% since 2012.
Rising fuel and rent costs and changes to benefits payments are all cited as major influences
on the amount of money families have left to spend on food. However, research also
underlines that food poverty is not unique to families living on very low incomes3: 62% of
children living in poverty live in households with at least one working parent4. Moreover, it
1 Department of Health, Choosing a Better Diet: A Food and Health Action Plan. London: Department of Health
Crown (2005) 2Poverty and Social Exclusion: UK. The Improvement of the UK: PSE UK First Results: Living Standards (2013)
Available from www.poverty.ac.uk 3 Downing E, Kennady S, Fell M. Food Banks and Food Poverty. Commons Briefing Paper [Internet] (2014)
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06657 4 Cooper N, Dumbleton S. Walking the Breadline: The Scandal of Food Poverty in 21
st Century Britain (2013)
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also stresses that food aid figures might not reflect the true extent of the problem as not
every family experiencing food poverty will access food aid5.
Across the UK, 1.3m children have access to
free school meals. The importance of
nutritious food, particularly for young
children, is acknowledged by the
Government’s introduction of the universal
infant free school meals in September 2014
for all children in Key Stage 1 (aged four to
seven years) in primary schools.
However, school meals under most school
policies across the UK are generally only
provided during term time – approximately
38 weeks of the year, with no additional provision in place during school holidays. This
causes considerable challenges for parents and carers, especially during the long summer
break when they need to provide extra meals for their children for six to seven weeks. While
there is no official, uniform data on holiday hunger, anecdotal evidence from teachers and
school cooks suggests that during school holidays children may go for several days without a
proper meal.
A report written for children’s charity Barnados - Food Poverty in School Holidays6, as far
back 2004 highlighted that the summer break can be a fraught time for parents and carers
who already have financial difficulties. Parents discussed how they made efforts to stretch
their food budgets by purchasing food that was cheap but generally unhealthy, with cost
having to take priority over nutritional adequacy.
According to the Food Research and
Action Centre (FRAC) children’s meal
intakes during the summer break
from school can be sporadic, often
consisting of foods lower in
nutritional value that they would
receive at school during term time.
And it’s not only children’s diets that
suffer during holiday time. The lack
of food also means that many
5Lambie-Mumford H, Dowler E. Rising use of ‘food aid’ in the United Kingdom. Br Food J (2014)
6 Gill O, Sharma N. Food Poverty in School Holidays (2004) www.barnados.org.uk/foodpovertyreportv3.qxd.pdf
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children are limited socially as they are unable to invite friends over to their houses to play
as their parents are unable to extend their household food provisions to feed additional
children.
The lack of a formal set-up for holiday food programmes has led to growing concern that
many children are experiencing “holiday hunger”7. Indeed in a survey commissioned by
breakfast cereal manufacturer Kelloggs, 39% of teachers surveyed in the UK believed that
their pupils do not get enough to each during the school holidays8.
In a bid to combat holiday hunger, there are now a number of different schemes operating
around the UK offering families meals, social engagement and activities and the most recent
research points to it making a very real difference to many children and their carers.
Qualitative research with
staff working on holiday
food programmes found
that while the nutritious
food offered by the
holiday clubs was the key
ingredient of their
success, other factors such
as the sociability of the
clubs, activities and the
family support on offer,
were also welcomed by
those accessing the
services. The activities on
offer were valued as they were deemed to be more accessible than other activities in the
local area. They were also believed to alleviate boredom and reduce the likelihood that
children would engage in anti-social behaviour. Moreover, children and adults learnt new
skills and knowledge through the various activities – particularly in relation to food,
nutrition and sports skills.
Holiday clubs were also seen as valuable sources of support, providing an environment
where parents and children could go for various kinds of help beyond the provision of food.
7 Graham L. 170 Days. Innovation in community projects that address school holiday child hunger
8 Kelloggs. Isolation and Hunger: The reality of the school holidays for struggling families (2015)
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HUNGRY LONDON
220,000 London pupils from families living below the poverty line are enrolled in
Free School Meals
18% or one in five London pupils are at risk of hunger every day during the school
day
More than half a million London children struggle for food during school holidays
There are an estimated 1.5m London children living in poverty but not eligible for
Free School Meals. These children would greatly benefit both physically and
socially from access to holiday meal programmes
Social isolation, in addition to poor nutrition, can undermine a child’s school
readiness, cognitive function, well-being and social integration
[London Food Poverty Profile report by Sustain, Beyond the Food Bank. Oct 2015]
OUR MISSION
The Mayor’s Fund for London is now working to raise the
profile of holiday hunger and the negative impact it has on
young Londoners.
We are looking to support community groups, boroughs,
businesses, foundations, charities and individuals to help
supply healthy holiday meals and positive activities to some
50,000 young Londoners in some of the capital’s most
disadvantaged areas – and report back on the positive effects
this has.
We’ll also be campaigning for statutory support in a bid to achieve the educational, social
and health benefits that holiday food provision would bring for all young Londoners.
Kitchen Social will build on the pilot projects we
ran last year. Over the next three years our aim is to
identify and help 330 community organisations across
London, to develop a healthy food and social
development offer during school holidays. And while
tackling hunger is at the heart of Kitchen Social, we
strong believe that it’s also important to consider the mental and physical and social well-being of
London children. These other benefits include learning about healthy eating, skills
developments, social inclusion and identification of children and young people in need, plus
the development of staff, volunteers and local capacity.
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WE KNOW IT WORKS
In the summer 2016 the Mayor’s Fund for London created
and delivered a Holiday Food Provision pilot scheme,
working with 14 clubs in five London boroughs.
The pilot saw more than 4,000 healthy balanced meals
delivered to more than 600 children and young people. In
addition the children and young people benefited from social integration, access to group
and physical activities, plus they learned about cooking and healthy eating.
Similarly the Mayor’s Fund For London Breakfast Club project, delivering pre-school
breakfast to all pupils in Year’s 2 and 6 in 106 London schools between September2014 and
July 2015 saw positive outcomes: For instance, Year 2 children in breakfast club schools
experienced around two-months’ additional progress compared to Year 2 children in other
schools. Year 6 children also experienced around two months’ progress compared to similar
aged children in other schools. Neither of these results were likely to have occurred by
chance.
Teachers at Breakfast Club schools also noted general pupil behaviour improvements,
possibly even with positive outcomes for children not attending before-school breakfast
because of improved classroom environments.
Breakfast Club schools also recorded an improvement in Key Stage 1 outcomes of around
two months’ progress.
GET INVOLVED
Be a delivery partner: Are you an organisation that already works with young people or one
that provides healthy food? Do you have a safe space and catering facilities? Are you a local
authority that would like to develop Kitchen Social projects?
Offer us your experience and influence: Help us to develop Kitchen Social with other
London institutions, charities, businesses and individuals.
Help us to raise £1m: The Innocent Foundation, the Hillingdon Trust and the Greater London
Authority are already on board…we now need businesses, public funders, foundations and individual
donors to help up reach our target.
Find out more and get involved. Contact us on 020 7983 4051 or visit mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk
Mayors Fund for London is a registered charity. No 1124833