Agenda item

Motions on Notice

A period of an hour and a half is allocated to consider the motions on notice at this meeting. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Minutes:

The Chairman explained that 2 Motions on Notice had been received for consideration at this meeting. However, it was confirmed that Councillor C. Hotham had withdrawn his Motion on Notice for this meeting.

Free School Meals

Council considered the following Motion on Notice that was submitted by Councillor P. McDonald:

"Over 3.8 million children in the UK currently live below the poverty line and for those young people the price of school meals is prohibitive. In addition, with the cost-of-living crisis that is predicted to increase rapidly.

Council request our MP to lobby the Government to implement free school meals."

The Motion was proposed by Councillor McDonald and seconded by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett.

In proposing the Motion, Councillor McDonald commented that it had been well documented that children’s education was being impacted during the current cost of living crisis. As a result, it had been reported that teachers were providing financial support and making referrals to Food Banks for needy families. Members were asked to note that it should not be the responsibility of teachers to provide this sort of care to their pupils and that more could be done by Government to help prevent this occurring in the future.

The suggestion was made that Free School Meals could go some way in mitigating the financial crisis that many families were currently experiencing. It was reported that it was expected that children living in households experiencing Fuel Poverty was set to rise by 38.6%. It was also suggested that over 3.8m children in the UK were living below the poverty line and that a positive and robust response was required. Furthermore, Councillor McDonald called upon Bromsgrove District Council to lobby the local MP to act and introduce Free School Meals for all children in the District.

Following the presentation of the Motion, there was a query regarding the wording of the Motion. It was highlighted that there was ambiguity regarding whether the Motion was to ‘implement free school meals’ to all children as stated in the proposed Motion, or if it was for all school children within the District as outlined in the preamble above. If it was the case that it be for all school children, the question was raised as to whether this would also include private school pupils and international pupils. Councillor McDonald confirmed that the Motion was concerned with the implementation of free school meals for all children in the District of Bromsgrove and clarified that the Motion should read as follows:

Council request our MP to lobby the Government to implement free school meals for all children in the District of Bromsgrove."

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance responded to the Motion and in doing so reported that in October, each year every school completed a census which formed the basis for their following year’s funding. It was noted that at present across Worcestershire there were 12,336 claimants of Free School Meals at a cost of £3,022,320, with Bromsgrove’s figures totalling 2,171 claimants. This number was a result of a steady increase since October 2020. The annual payment from the Department for Education was £245 per annum per claimant, and prior to the clarification from Councillor McDonald it was noted that the figure for Free School Meals for all children in the UK would be astronomical.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance explained that supporting the current wording was not a viable option due to the costs involved. However, he commented that were there an addition of the following wording support could be provided. This wording was clarified as follows:

“Over 3.8 million children in the UK currently live below the poverty line and for those young people the price of school meals is prohibitive. In addition, with the cost-of-living crisis that is predicted to increase rapidly.

Council request our MP to lobby the Government to implement free school meals to all qualifiers on a termly basis.”

It was noted that the qualifying terms were quite wide and were stated as follows:

· Income Support

· Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

· Support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act, 1999

· Child Tax Credit, and an annual income less than £16,190

· Guaranteed Pension Credit

· Income-based Employment and Support Allowance

· Working Tax Credit run-on

· Universal Credit, and an annual household income of £7,400 per annum (£616 per month) or less after tax, and not including any benefits.

Councillor McDonald did not accept the amendment as proposed by Councillor Denaro and confirmed that the Motion was to be proposed as written, including the addition of the wording “all children in the District of Bromsgrove” as noted above.

During the debate, it was noted that this was a serious issue and that 300k children were eligible for Free School Meals. However, these were not accessed by all those who were eligible due to the stigma attached to receiving Free School Meals, particularly in more affluent areas. It was stated that this was the purpose of the proposed Motion and that receipt of free school meals for all children would remove this stigma and also would improve access and accessibility of free school meals.

Council was informed that during the Covid-19 pandemic WCC had utilised Household Support Grant funding to provide free school meals during the school holidays for those that were eligible and that this was set to continue in the forthcoming school holidays.

In summing up, Councillor McDonald suggested that this was a serious Motion that would make some steps in ensuring that children received the help they needed during a cost of living crisis. In lobbying the MP this could be an opportunity for this to be realised.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 18.3 a recorded vote was taken on this Motion and the voting was as follows:

Members voting FOR the Motion:

Councillors P. McDonald and L.C.R Mallett (2)

Members voting AGAINST the Motion:

Councillors A. Beaumont, S. Colella, R. Deeming, G.N Denaro, A. English, M, Glass, H. Jones, A. Kriss, R. Laight, K. May, P. Thomas, J. Till, K. Van der Plank, S. Webb and P. Whittaker (15).

Members ABSTAINING in the vote on the Motion:

Councillors S. Douglas, C. Hotham, R. Hunter and S. Robinson (4).

The vote on the Motion was therefore lost.

[During consideration of Minute Item 70/22 – Motions on Notice, Councillor M. Thompson declared a pecuniary interest on the grounds that his employer, Bromsgrove School, may benefit financially from the implementation of Free School Meals. During this item, Councillor Thompson left the meeting and took no part in the debate or voting thereon].

Supporting documents:

All Motions 221207, item 70/22 PDF 270 KB