Labour Government publishes Children’s Wellbeing Bill
The Bill has passed the first reading stage on 17th December 2024 and now will move onto the 2nd reading stage at a later date. The Children’s Wellbeing Bill aims to ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day.
Schools can apply to become one of 750 early adopters in the Government’s free breakfast club rollout, with clubs to launch from April 2025.
The Government says that breakfast clubs in every primary school will make a ‘huge difference’ to children, families, and schools - removing barriers to opportunity by helping children learn, making sure no child starts school hungry.
LACA has a number of concerns about the school breakfast clubs scheme that it feels have not yet been addressed. In a recent survey, just 40% said they supported the Government’s school breakfast club plans, while 39% said they did not.
Judith Gregory, chair of LACA, commented: “There are a number of other questions we have beyond the simple one about apparent lack of funding. Who will deliver the breakfast service – school caterers, schools, or contractors? How will the timings work?
“In Wales we only enough time to eat breakfast, it’s not a child-minding service. And time is needed to set up and clean up afterwards in multi-use areas. There’s also the question of staffing. Will the teaching staff be involved at all? And is the breakfast club scheme for all pupils or just free school meals (FSM) pupils?”
To read more about LACA’s view on breakfast provision, go to page 31-32 of School Caterer Winter Issue.