MP Alexander Stafford welcomes change in plan to feed the kids during holidays

MP ALEXANDER Stafford backed government plans to pump fresh cash into feeding children during the holidays — just three weeks after voting against extending free school meals outside term time.

On October 21, the government voted down a Labour motion calling for the support, as demanded by a campaign led by footballer Marcus Rashford, to continue through the Christmas holidays.

Cafes and small businesses across Rotherham offered to step in and fill the void, while Rotherham Council committed to funding free meal vouchers.

But last weekend prime minister Boris Johnson announced a change of plan, saying the government would plough £220 million into the existing Holiday Activities and Food programme for the most deprived families, earmarked for meeting food and fuel bills.

The government said it was granting £170 million to councils to help vulnerable people, with Rotherham allocated £1 million.

The Holiday Activities and Food Programme will be extended until next Christmas, ministers said, meaning children eligible for free school meals “will have the option to join a holiday-time programme that provides healthy food and fun activities during the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays next year”.

Rother Valley MP Mr Stafford, who did not respond to requests from the Advertiser to comment after he voted against the free meals motion last month, this week welcomed the new approach.

“No child should ever go hungry, and the extra £1,007,395.16 for Rotherham Council will ensure local families that need extra support with food and bills this winter can access it, which is very welcome news,” he said.

“I’m also pleased that the Prime Minister has announced the extension of the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides healthy food and activities for children during the school holidays. This is exactly the sort of targeted approach I have been pushing for locally.”

Mr Stafford said he had been meeting headteachers in his constituency lately “to discuss the ways in which we can best offer support to those that need it the most”.  

The Advertiser asked Mr Stafford to expand on how he had been “pushing for a targeted approach locally” and how he thought the continued funding of school meals vouchers through the holidays would not have represented a targeted approach, but he did not respond.