Support for Children Entitled to Free School Meals
Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Rupa Huq(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Dr Rupa Huq (in the Chair)
Patricia Gibson will be speaking at the end of the debate as one of the Front-Bench spokespersons, so I call Siobhain McDonagh.
Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)
I am sorry, Chair, but I wondered if I could be delayed slightly?
Dr Rupa Huq (in the Chair)
We have Jim Shannon, who has just made it over from the main Chamber. Are you ready, Jim?
Siobhain McDonagh
I thank my hon. Friend. So many people got involved in providing devices, such as football clubs like my own AFC Wimbledon, which has now donated more than 2,000 refurbished laptops. I thank all those charities that did such work. While it was brilliant work, however, it cannot be enough—the Government need to step in.
I hope that the Minister will consider the merits of my proposal to provide devices and an internet connection to all children on free school meals. I would be delighted to meet her to discuss how it could be rolled out in practice. It took the intervention of a premier league footballer for Ministers to agree that no child should go to bed hungry. What will it take before we all agree that no child should be left behind because of their internet connection?
Dr Rupa Huq (in the Chair)
A good bit of lateral thinking in that speech, but it made it worth the wait. We now come to the three Front Benchers. We start with the SNP.