Marcus Rashford deems school meal packages "not good enough"
"Inadequate" food packages issued instead of food vouchers draw mass criticism
Marcus Rashford has said “We MUST do better” regarding child food deprivation after images circulated showing the limited contents of food parcels provided by some local authorities in lieu of food vouchers.
The parcels are delivered to children who would normally qualify for free school meals but are now learning remotely due to national lockdown.
Parents have criticized the contents of the food packages, with one Mum tweeting a photo of her package accompanied by the caption: "#FreeSchoolMeals bag for 10 days: 2 days jacket potato with beans, 8 single cheese sandwiches, 2 days carrots, 3 days apples, 2 days soreen, 3 days frubes.
“Spare pasta & tomato. Will need mayo for pasta salad.
“Issued instead of £30 vouchers. I could do more with £30 to be honest.”
Footballer and anti-poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford has been sharing photos of these lacklustre packages, one which included one half of a pepper, on his Twitter feed which have then been liked and retweeted thousands of times.
"Just not good enough"
Alongside one photo, the Manchester United player tweeted: Then imagine we expect children to engage in learning from home. Not to mention the parents who, at times, have to teach them who probably haven’t eaten at all so their children can… We MUST do better. This is 2021.
The company who provided the parcel, Chartwells, responded to the tweet by saying it would launch an investigation and that the contents of the food package in question did “not reflect the specification of one of our hampers.”
Packages contained only £5 worth of food
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said some packages were "unacceptable", while children’s minister Vicky Ford assured she would “urgently” look into the matter after parcels supposedly worth £30 contained only £5 worth of food.
However, Ms Ford then went on to defend the decision to use food parcels in place of vouchers for some families, tweeting: “One of the reasons why some schools have used food parcels rather than vouchers is that it helps keep them in touch with families.
“Very sadly during the pandemic there has been an increase in risk to some children. Do call @NSPCC If you are concerned about a child.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer called the parcels "woefully inadequate" and labelled the entire situation "a disgrace" before asking "Where is the money going?"