UK MPs welcome school meals toolkit
Today in the UK Parliament, the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd), the World Food Programme and the All Party Parliamentary Group on School Food launched ‘School meals: A toolkit for parliamentarians’.
The launch, attended by members of parliament, civil society organisations, representatives from UN bodies and academia, highlighted the strong case for school meal programmes and the opportunities that members of parliament have to expand and improve them.
The event was hosted by leading school meals campaigner and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on School Food Ms. Sharon Hodgson MP.
Sharon Hogdson MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on School Food speaking at the launch of the toolkit.
“School meals ensure: nutritious, healthy diets; full-bellied, energised learners; they relieve parental pressures; they build stronger relationships between home and school; they support cultural cohesion; and they improve educational attendance – among countless more benefits,” said Ms. Hodgson.
Professor Donald Bundy, Director of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition agreed and shared some of the growing evidence assembled by the Research Consortium that shows how well-designed programmes support positive outcomes across multiple sectors.
Professor Donald Bundy of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition.
“Recently, we have started to understand that in a world of climate-change these public food programmes can also drive sustainable food systems transformation – with proven benefits for the child, their family, and wider society,” said Professor Bundy.
Speaking on behalf of the World Food Programme, which supports governments design and implement school meal programmes, the organisation's representative in the UK Ms. Geraldine O’Callaghan said “The toolkit will be a vital resource for policy makers thinking through options to improve the life chances of children.”
“In an all too rare piece of good news, action to expand and improve school meal programmes is growing” said Mr. Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, IPNEd’s Executive Director.
“This is undoubtedly driven by the multiple benefits which governments can see school meal programmes deliver. Members of parliament can help both accelerate and consolidate the movement to feed children at school.
“They can represent their constituents who overwhelmingly support school meals, they can advocate for them, draft and pass laws which support them, ensure they are properly funded and monitor government efforts to implement them.
“That’s exactly what the toolkit which we’re launching today is designed to help MPs do and I’m really looking forward to working with parliamentarians from around the world to grow political support for this transformative intervention,” concluded Mr. Nhan-O’Reilly.
Concluding the event, Ms Hodgson underscored the global relevance of school meals and called for the UK to do more to support them.
“From Guatemala to Greater Manchester school meals deliver the same benefits for children wherever they are. The UK Government must step up and do everything we can to support and strengthen school feeding programmes at home, and across the world” siad Ms. Hodgson.
IPNEd’s Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, Sharon Hodgson MP, Geraldine O’Callaghan of WFP and Professor Donald Bundy of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition mark the launch of the toolkit in the UK Parliament.