Last week I had a packed schedule in Parliament, attending
many different events on behalf of the people of Mid-Cornwall, including a
National Farmers Union Reception supporting local beer and cheese producers, hosting
an Open Doors Reception supporting persecuted Christians around the world, and
a meeting discussing our continuing support for Surfers Against Sewage in the
continuing fight against plastics that end up in our seas. I also spoke on the
Space Industry Bill, highlighting the potential of bringing the spaceport to
Cornwall, and I am pleased to have been appointed to the committee that will
consider this legislation as it moves through Parliament.
On Friday I was back in Cornwall, including meeting local
businesses, the Student Council at Fowey Primary School to discuss my work as
MP and a meeting with the Cornwall Rural Housing Association to discuss their
plans for the old Carclaze Infant School in St Austell on Friday and a
constituency advice surgery in Newquay on Saturday.
One announcement that I was pleased to hear last week was
from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi
MP, who confirmed that the Government will launch research into how best to
ensure that more children from disadvantaged families benefit from healthy
meals and positive activities during the holidays.
Research from charities, including the Trussell Trust, has
shown there can be rising demand at foodbanks during the summer holidays for
example, when the families of children who are entitled to free school meals
during term time struggle to afford to feed their children. There is no doubt
that this is an issue that many families here in Mid-Cornwall face.
The Government is now going to investigate the best way to
ensure that the most disadvantaged children have access to activities and
healthy meals in the school holidays. The research programme will include
funding for a targeted pilot programme. That will allow the Government to
consider if and how they should intervene in the long term. As I have said
before, just throwing money at an issue won’t automatically solve it, so I am
pleased to see that the programme of work will focus on the best and most
cost-effective ways to address what is clearly an issue for some of our more
vulnerable families.
As with everything, my job is to ensure that Cornwall is
properly considered in any work that takes place. I am pleased that the
Minister said the Government is aiming to cover rural as well as urban areas,
to work with different types of schools and across educational phases, and to
ensure that provision can be accessed by children with special educational
needs and disabilities.
The research programme will begin immediately and will
include some initial work in the 2018 summer holidays followed by further
piloting in the 2019 Easter and summer holidays. The Government work will
investigate how to provide a balanced, enriched programme for the most disadvantaged
school-age pupils and I will be watching the work closely to ensure it is
targeted correctly and that its results can be applied across the whole of the
country, to support those who need it most.
