There are lots of options for the future of York’s free school meals and breakfast club pilots once a national rollout is complete, the council’s education spokesperson has said.
Cllr Bob Webb, City of York Council’s Labour education executive member, said money raised through the Hungry Minds campaign could fund extra fresh food or other public health benefits for children.
Cllr Webb told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the campaign, which is financed through council grants and private donations, could also fund free breakfast clubs in secondary schools.
It comes after the council announced 10 more York schools are set to get free breakfast clubs from the summer term, with funding in place for three years.
Those schools will join Fishergate and Burton Green primaries which already put on free breakfast clubs as part of the council’s pilot scheme.
The scheme began in January with the offer of free lunches to pupils in Years 3 to 6 at Westfield Primary in Acomb.
Funding worth £100,000-a-year has been committed to the Westfield pilot by the Labour administration which has committed to providing the cash until the end of its term next year.
Breakfast club trials are being financed by the Hungry Minds campaign which is managed by the Two Ridings Community Foundation.
The Government is planning to roll out free breakfast clubs, half-hour sessions offering food before the school day starts, to all pupils in England in due course.
More than 180,000 children currently have access to the clubs and the number of schools offering them through the Government’s programme is set to reach 1,250 after Easter.
Labour’s Cllr Webb said the full roll-out would free up money in Hungry Minds that could be spent on other schemes in York.
He added ideas for how the spare cash could be used would be subject to future funding decisions.
The education executive member said: “There’s lots of options for Hungry Minds.
“We could offer additional fresh food or other public health benefits.
“Children don’t stop being hungry when they leave primary school, so we could also look at secondary schools instead, but there’s nothing concrete yet.”
The Hungry Minds scheme was launched following a pledge from Labour during the 2023 local elections.
The administration has said it has improved attendance, behaviour and concentration in lessons following academic research into the trials.
But critics including the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition have questioned whether the scheme is value for money.
Estimates show that it would cost around £3m-a-year to fund free lunches in all of York’s 57 primary schools.
The opposition has also accused the ruling group of moving away from lunches to breakfast clubs, breaking its original local elections pledge.
Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Cllr Paula Widdowson called on Labour to apologise following the announcement of the expansion on Thursday.
Labour’s Cllr Webb said the move had been influenced by University of York and University of Leeds research showing breakfast clubs were better value for money.
