This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Keep the Free School Meal Voucher scheme until September 2020.
As part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy, maintain the current free school meal voucher scheme until September 2020 so that parents of disadvantaged pupils can “get on their feet” and pupils are ready for the next academic year having been fed properly over summer.
More details
I work in Stoke-on-Trent as a teacher. I, at one point in my life, had free school meals. I know first hand the issues that families who receive free school vouchers go through. If we can keep these children properly fed over summer it will not only help these families get back on their feet but also give the students a decent start to the next academic year. DfE data shows 25% of stokes school population are eligible for FSM. 34% were eligible in last 6 years. We can’t let them down like this.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.
We think your petition is covered by Government or Parliament action already. If you'd like something else, you could start a new petition clearly explaining what it is.
Since you started your petition, the Government has extended the voucher scheme to cover the school summer holidays. For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-summer-food-fund.
You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support
You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips
You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/
You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.