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Liberal Party calls for APWG to deal with Food Poverty

The Liberal Party notes with dismay the defeat of the Parliamentary motion to extend free school holiday meals for disadvantaged children.

We believe that such privation should be dealt with throughout the pandemic and therefore call on government to commit the public purse until after Christmas to provide holiday meals for the 2.2 million children who currently receive free school meals.

We feel a quarterly review would be appropriate to identify changing needs, for creating certainty and for managing budgets and we call on government to establish an all-party working group (APWG) to make recommendations for future actions.

According to data from The Food Foundation more than 1.4 million children experience food insecurity during the school holidays, such a shameful situation must be addressed as part of a broader review of social policy in this country.