National School Breakfast Programme

Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Baroness makes important points. There is both a macro and a micro issue here. For example, today I looked at the LIFFE futures price for wheat: it is £130 a tonne. When I last worked on my father’s farm in 1978 it was about £100 a tonne. Food has never been cheaper. We have had a revolution in the provision of food in this country and, indeed, in the western world. We need to understand why these families are struggling to produce meals at home. A great deal of that centres around education. I appeared before a Select Committee yesterday on holiday hunger and we need to learn a lot more about this. We have introduced the infant free school meals in the past couple of years. That programme is feeding 1.5 million children and has an 85% take-up.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that much of the funding for these schemes comes from the soft drinks industry? Can he confirm that it is difficult to avoid a conflict of interest when those that might be providing sustenance which is not always as healthy as it should be are involved in schemes such as these?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Lord is quite right. I should perhaps declare my own interest as someone who grows 3,500 tonnes of sugar beet every year. Of course, a lot of that sugar does not go to the right places. The levy is designed as a pump-primer for the system. We want to see this money encouraging schools to start breakfast clubs that are sustainable in the long term. Noble Lords will be aware that we have just announced a tremendous funding settlement for schools over the next three years. I am confident that there are now resources coming into schools that will enable them to sustain them.