A pledge to extend free school meals to all secondary schools in Plaid Cymru led councils has been made by the party. All primary school pupils are being offered free school meals from September as part of Plaid’s co-operation agreement with Labour in the Senedd and now Plaid wants to go further.
Plaid leader Adam Price will tell the party’s spring conference in Cardiff this weekend that his party wants to “create a Wales free of hunger and poverty”. Speaking ahead of the conference Mr Price said the free school meals pledge “gets rid of dinner money debt and scraps the stigma associated with getting a free lunch."
A report from the Child Poverty Action Group last year showed 55,000 children living in poverty do not get free school meals in Wales because of strict eligibility rules and comparatively high child poverty rates. You can read more about that here
Mr Price will tell his party's conference : "hungry children can’t learn, can’t grow and can’t achieve their true potential.”
He will pledge that Plaid Cymru led councils “will commit to setting the goal and begin immediately planning to extend universal free school meals to all secondary school pupils within the next five years”.
Mr Price is expected to tell this weekend’s conference: “Midway through the last Senedd we resolved to make free school meals for all primary school children our number one priority. It was the one sure way, within the powers of the Senedd that we could make an impact on the curse of child poverty in Wales, that impacts on a third of our children.
“It gets rid of dinner money debt and scraps the stigma associated with getting a free lunch and means children get a healthy, hot meal at a formative stage in their development - because hungry children can’t learn, can’t grow and can’t achieve their true potential.
“Universal Free School Meals is only happening because of Plaid Cymru’s co-operative working – together, we are making a difference to the lives of people and communities up and down Wales.
“We are now planning to take the policy further. I can announce today that a key part of our offer in the forthcoming council election campaign is that Plaid Cymru-led councils will commit to setting the goal and begin immediately planning to extend universal Free School Meals to all secondary school pupils within the next five years.”
Plaid Cymru leads four of Wales’ 22 councils. Elections are being held in May.
