All primary school children should receive free school meals, a council has urged the Government.

Pupils should have access to nutritious and balanced free school meals, Durham County Council has said, after the statement received cross-party support earlier this month.

Councillor Alan Shield, cabinet member for equality and inclusion, has now written to Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education, with the council’s appeal.

“As you know, I wrote to you recently to provide context in terms of the situation across households in our county and the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having, highlighting how we are particularly fearful of the impact on our young children,” he said in his letter.

“We clearly need to do more to support those households with young children so we can improve their life chances. On behalf of the Council, I would therefore urge you to consider extending free school meal provision to every primary school child in England.

“Thank you for taking the time to consider this and I look forward to your response.”

A recent report by the North East Child Poverty Commission: ‘Getting the building blocks wrong: Early childhood poverty in the North East’. highlights that almost two in five children in the Northeast (38%) are living in poverty.

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The percentage of children living in relative poverty (aged 0-19) 2020/21 in County Durham is 27.3% compared to 28.9% in the North East and 18.5% across England. The figures have increased from 24.4% in 2019/20.

It is not the first time Cllr Shield has written to the Secretary of State about this issue. In November, he wrote in support of the North East Child Poverty Commission’s plea to provide free school meals to children in all households in receipt of Universal Credit or similar legacy benefits.

The number of households in County Durham claiming Universal Credit (UC) has increased by 52.6% since February 2020, rising to nearly 43,500 households in May 2022. This large rise is, in part, due to the combined impacts of the Covid-19 lockdown and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis.