Pandemic sees increase in number of Harrogate district free school meals

An extra 350 children in Harrogate district secondary schools have become eligible for free school meals since the coronavirus pandemic began, figures reveal.

A total of 1,143 children were eligible in October 2021, compared with 796 in January 2020.

This means almost 1 in 10 children in the district are now eligible for free school meals. The national average is around 2 in 10.

The Stray Ferret obtained the figures from a freedom of information request to North Yorkshire County Council, the education authority for the district.

To qualify for free school meals a parent must apply to the council with evidence that they are receiving a benefit, such as child tax credit, income support or universal credit.

The issue of free school meals was highlighted following a campaign by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford.

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Speaking at last week’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee, Helen Ingle, health improvement manager at NYCC, said the council was trying to encourage parents of key stage 1 age children to take up free school meals.

If a child is in reception, year one or year two they are automatically entitled to a free school meal.

Ms Ingle also said schools in the district had reported an increase in obesity since the pandemic began.

She said:

“[Covid] has had a massive impact on levels of overweight and obesity, we’re doing a lot of work around that. Schools are very concerned about healthy eating levels in schools and have noticed a change in children’s weight and eatings habits since covid.”

Strayside Sunday: Labour is winning the “good guys” image battle

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Almost twenty years ago, I was fit (and silly) enough to be able to kick a football around the muddy playing fields of South London as Number 10 for a team called The Westminster Wanderers.  The Wanderers brought together political hacks, lobbyists and journos from across the political spectrum, united both by our desire to spend Sunday mornings in the cold and damp, and Monday mornings spent stiff and sore.

One of my teammates was the former President of the radical Federation of Conservative Students, a body so libertarian in its views that it proposed, while Mrs T was Prime Minister no less, that drugs ought to be legalised, along with free migration.  The FCS became known as “Maggie’s Militant Tendency” and was eventually broken up by Conservative Party Chairman Stormin’ Norman Tebbit, to avoid further disrepute.

By the time we met, the activist in question was a senior player in James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party, parent to UKIP and grandparent to the Brexit Party, as well as a leggy and robust centre-half for the Wanderers.  One fateful day in 2001, the man in question asked whether, given I knew a thing or two about communication (at the time I thought I did, although now I know I didn’t), I would write him a paper on how to turn around the reputation of the Conservative Party.  I obliged with a missive entitled “Rebranding the Nasty Party” and, within a month, was appointed Director of Communication for the Tories.  It didn’t end well.

I recount this horrible history because, if Labour have their way, and if the Conservatives aren’t careful, this week may mark the return of the nasty party into the popular consciousness.  Wednesday saw a Labour motion in parliament to extend provision of £15-a-week food vouchers to 1.4m disadvantaged children in England during school holidays until Easter 2021.  Who could possibly argue with that?  And, of course, that’s the point; Labour’s single-issue party managers know that there is no way to answer the question without self-incrimination.  Support it and the Conservatives concede the problem statement – the existence of so many disadvantaged children in need of a meal – oppose it and appear mean and, well, nasty.  Indeed a Liberal Democrat supporting friend of mine (not of this parish, for the avoidance of doubt) WhatsApped me on the day of the debate with a link to how individual members voted on the motion, with the accompanying text “milk snatchers are back.”  This a reference of course to 1971 and the Blessed Margaret, when Education Secretary.

As loyal party men, local MPs Messrs Adams, Smith and Jones voted against the motion.  No surprise there, sadly.  Labour isn’t a presence in these parts so no real need for a demonstrable show of compassion or principle from the Big 3.  But the point is this: the motion was designed by Labour to cast the Conservatives in the role of villain; and Labour’s juice has certainly been worth the squeeze.  Coinciding nicely with Boris Johnson’s refusal to bung Andy Burnham an extra ‘five mil for the workers’ in return for imposing Tier 3 restrictions, one feels an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of one’s stomach about the direction of travel.

At a time when any reputation the Conservative government might have had for competence is, in any view, in tatters (see also Test and Trace), they surely need to take utmost care not to allow long and deeply held perceptions about their lack of humanity resurface.  I don’t know about you but I can’t go through another Tory re-branding round of “hug a hoodie” and dog sleds; it’s just too painful.  And, although Labour’s Deputy Leader, the dreadful foghorn Angela Rayner, seriously overplayed her hand when calling us “Tory Scum” in Parliament this week, aged alarm bells are ringing.  Labour is giving the impression that, in our much diminished Covid circumstances, some good old-fashioned class warfare is just around the corner.

Calling all Conservatives nasty, as if no other political party has such a characteristic, has never been accurate.  I’ve had the displeasure to know and work with quite a few nasty people over the years in politics and beyond and, if pressed, I’d say that they are evenly distributed across the political spectrum.  As the brakes are put on Covid spending, as inevitably they must be, we should remember that what this government has done to respond to the crisis so far has been remarkable, in the worst of circumstances.  But it should extend that response to free school dinners.  Not only does this risk a return of the nasty party label, it is both politically and morally wrong.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

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What is the situation in the Harrogate district on free school meals?

The Stray Ferret has received lots of messages about free school meals after last night’s vote in the House of Commons.

A Labour motion to extend provision of £15-a-week food vouchers to 1.4m disadvantaged children in England during holidays until Easter 2021 was voted down.

Opposition motions rarely succeed — only one has done so since 1978. They are designed to raise issues governments would prefer to ignore but the high profile support of footballer Marcus Rashford and the sensitivity of the issue generated considerable interest.

Many comments to the Stray Ferret were critical of Harrogate district Conservative MPs Andrew Jones, Julian Smith, and Nigel Adams, who all voted against the motion.

The Harrogate district is below the national average for children receiving school meals, but nevertheless almost 1 in 10 children receive them.

1,932 free meals in district

A Freedom of Information request in 2019 to North Yorkshire County Council revealed that in May 2019, 1,932 children in the Harrogate district received free school meals, which represented 8.2% of all pupils.

Last year, the county average was 10.2% and the national average was 14.1%.

However, the number of children receiving free school meals in the district had risen from October 2018, when it was 7.7% of pupils.

To qualify for free school meals a parent must apply to North Yorkshire County Council with evidence that they are receiving a benefit, such as Child Tax Credit, Income Support, or Universal Credit.

Several Conservative MPs issued a joint tweet last night defending what the government is doing for low-income families.

It said:

“We’re supporting pupils in need: Free school meals for 1.4 million children from low income families, £9 billion extra put into the welfare system to help and £63m to help councils support families in need.”

A spokesperson from Harrogate District Food Bank, a charity that supports community action, told the Stray Ferret it expected to see Harrogate families using its food bank during half-term next week.

The spokesperson said:

“”From past experiences, families in Harrogate seem to scrape through the holiday and then come to the food bank the week or two after, but we shall just wait and see if that is the case.”

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Yesterday’s motion was voted down by 322 to 261, with five Conservative MPs voting against the government.

The Stray Ferret contacted Andrew Jones, Julian Smith and Nigel Adams but did not receive a response at the time of publication.