Crisis? What Crisis?

[New Judge]

In the same week that Child Benefit is being withdrawn for higher earners (in a somewhat unfair fashion, it might be argued) here we have a local authority taking it upon itself to feed the children it has a duty to educate:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20936420

Am I alone in thinking that if my Child Benefit had been withdrawn this week (and I didn't live in Blackpool) I would be a bit miffed to learn of the council's largesse?

"...children in Blackpool are more likely to face malnourishment, says the council." Very possibly true, I wouldn't know. But since when has it been the responsibility of local Councils to feed all of its primary school children?

[Gromit]

It is a pilot scheme. I suppose they think children will learn better if they have been properly fed and results will improve. Blackpool has seasonal jobs and a high number on benefits. Do we know where the money for this is coming from? Is it from the Education Department or some fund?

[emmie]

it isn't and shouldn't, that is the parents responsibility. Many children don't seem to want to eat breakfast, or get something along the way, snack bar or worse.

[ChillDoubt]

My concers were the same when I saw the story this morning on the BBC.

Surely ensuring your child has breakfast is a basic facet of parenting? Why does the state feel the need to take responsibility? Couldn't the school/schools have registered their concerns about the nourishment of pupils via a newsletter?
Surely pricking the conscience of parents is a good thing in this case?

[abstibus]

I often go to work without breakfast. That doesn't make me any less efficient.

[ChillDoubt]

who cares as long as the kids get fed?
----------------------------------

Obviously not some parents, which is a sad indictment.

[ummmm]

I got a text from my sons school yesterday, I presume all parents did, asking if my child/ren might qualify for free school meals. Then another text saying 'for every child registered for free school meals the school gets an extra £600 funding.

I wonder why they get that extra money.

[Zacs-Master]

I work that out at less than a pound per pupil. Once transport, staff to dish it out & wash up are taken off, surely the breakfast cant be up to much?
(12000 pupils x 20 days a month [roughly] x 3 months).

[Gromit]

http://www.blackpool.gov.uk/News/Freebreakfastsfor12000primaryschoolpupilslaunchedtoday.htm

[danchip]

what about the parents who dont have a conscience or bother with the basic facets of parenting? There are children in this country who from their school lunch on a friday dont eat again until their school lunch on a monday

[ChillDoubt]

The other side to this is that if children get into the habit of eating breakfast (still the most important meal of the day, particularly for schoolchildren) then the school ought to stop the project, not widen it.

This in turn will ensure the children ask, (some invariably to cajole) their parents to provide them breakfast, as they should.

[emmie]

if all schools do this, then the parents will feel that they won't need to. That doesn't make sense.

[humbersloop]

On the point made in the OP, under the Child Poverty Act 2010, local authorities have a statutory responsibility to make local co-operation arrangements to reduce and mitigate the effects of child poverty, so Blackpool Council do have a basis in law to take this action.

I think it's also generally accepted that poor parenting begets another generation of poor parents, and as triggs says, kids don't get to pick 'em. In areas of longstanding deprivation, interventions like this are aimed as much at breaking that cycle as anything else. Yes, it shouldn't have to happen, but that's where we are.

Skipping breakfast as an adult is a very different matter to a hungry child turning up unable to concentrate and therefore to learn. That in turn means lower educational attainment for that child, leading to less prospects of future employability and greater likelihood of future reliance on benefits.

[jno]

I assume because hungry pupils are often disruptive pupils. Blackburn's claim that it will help them focus on learning sounds plausible to me.

[vulcan]

Elsewhere, teachers are providing children with breakfast.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-19703707

[dave50]

I can't understand anyone who doesn't like to have breakfast.

[sherrardk]

Ummmm - I think that is a throw back to when the number of pupils at a school who were considered 'special needs' was based on the number of pupils who received free school lunches.

[ummmm]

I don't remember ever eating breakfast. I do remember my mother putting it in front of me.

[New Judge]

“…under the Child Poverty Act 2010, local authorities have a statutory responsibility to make local co-operation arrangements to reduce and mitigate the effects of child poverty, so Blackpool Council do have a basis in law to take this action. “

Thanks for all your answers.

Apologies if I did not make my point too well, gromit, but Blackpool Council have made no attempt to square their decision with any obligations they may have under that (somewhat unnecessary, in my opinion) legislation. Indeed their own press release goes to great pains to emphasise this fact: “There will be no discrimination between those families that can afford it and those that cannot.” Indeed they see their remit as even broader and their ambition (using other people’s money, natch) knows no bounds:

“Our initial pilot covers free breakfasts and milk in primary schools but we would like to see this eventually extended to include secondary schools and universal free lunches.”

Their reasoning: “We need to create a generation of children who understand the importance of nutrition“. That is indeed part of their education, but there is no requirement to provide that nutrition. That is their parents’ job.

Many of the children interviewed suggested that there was no time for breakfast in their households. If that is the case the council should suggest to their parents (if they must “nanny” them, which it seems they must) that they get up thirty minutes earlier.

So what next? Children turn up with holes in their shoes. The local authority provides new ones for them. No overcoat for the winter? Don’t worry, we’ll get one for him.

Labour controlled Blackpool Council is among those suggesting that the government “cuts” (which have seen spending actually rise) will see the end of local councils as we know them. Well, with councils such as theirs chucking taxpayers’ cash around like this, the sooner the better.