Debate contribution: Holiday Hunger and the High Cost of School Uniforms

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 12 November 2024.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

12 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Holiday Hunger and the High Cost of School Uniforms

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4658740

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Funding for the school holiday food grant scheme, which provided payments to prevent holiday hunger for around 100,000 children and young people, was withdrawn in March 2023, at a time when we in Northern Ireland were told that we were overspending. At that time, however, it was not acknowledged that, in April 2022, Northern Ireland became the first part of the United Kingdom to be funded below need since the UK Government adopted their UK definition of need through the Holtham formula in 2012. The cost to Northern Ireland of being funded at £3 below need was a £322 million block grant shortfall in 2022-23, which became a recurring deficit that was rolled into the following year, to be joined by the £431 million block grant shortfall for 2023-24, creating a compound of £753 million shortfall in that year. There is no doubt that it was that £753 million shortfall that informed the Education Department's decision, in March 2023, to terminate the school holiday food grant scheme. Looking across the water to Scotland, we see a jurisdiction that, according to the Treasury's block grant transparency figures, was, at that stage, funded at £21 above need, when Northern Ireland was funded at £3 below need. I could stand here and argue that, because Scotland is funded at £21 above need, Northern Ireland should be funded at £21 above need. However, I do not think that that is a reasonable argument. I do, however, think that it is reasonable to say that being funded below need is so disruptive and dislocating, as illustrated by the termination of the school holiday food grant scheme, that we should be afforded exactly the same protections as the other part of the UK — Wales — whose funding has come close to need, in order to make sure that that never happens again. That is particularly important for us as we think about the holiday hunger programme for the future, because we are currently denied those protections, and our block grant funding is destined to plunge below need once again in 2026-27. Even if we manage to get a holiday hunger programme up and running for 2025-26, it is likely that it would have to be terminated again in 2026-27.

In order to provide a sustainable holiday hunger programme, we need to gain the two protections that Wales enjoys. First, we must benefit from a baseline fiscal floor so that our funding cannot fall below the baseline need of 124% per head in 2026-27 or at any other time. Secondly, we need to have a 5% uplift, which has been worth £1·7 billion to Wales over the past eight years and has helped to keep block grant funding a bit above need. As we reflect on the painful implications of the Department of Education's decision to cut holiday hunger funding in March 2023, we need to remember that, at that time, there was a UK Government definition of "need", and a UK Government mechanism to prevent funding from falling below need that was given to Wales but not to Northern Ireland. Had the people of Northern Ireland been afforded the same protections as the people of Wales in April 2022, we would probably not be having this debate. Will the Minister please tell the UK Government that the children of Northern Ireland who would benefit from a reinstated school holiday food grant scheme are just as valuable as the children of Wales? Of course, whilst we welcome the positive noises about future budget allocations, we deserve the same security as Wales, which knows that its funding cannot fall below need in 2026-27 or at any other time. The Treasury needs to grant us the same protections — the baseline fiscal floor to need and the uplift — not possibly at some point in the future but now and indefinitely, so that we can plan for the future. Once we get the funding formula right, that will give the Minister the opportunity to take decisions, such as to reintroduce the holiday food grant scheme and to offer assistance to reduce the financial burden of school uniforms and PE kits on struggling families. Until we get our fiscal floor and funding mechanism sorted, we are a talking shop on the issue. I agree that the burdens that are placed on families are too great, but the Executive, in their current guise, are limited in what they can do. I encourage us to use this debate to discuss why we should be funded to the same level as Wales. In the meantime, anything else is immaterial. Yes, I want to see the Minister take action, but we need to have the financial resources in place to allow him to do so.

792 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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