Debate contribution: Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 13 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

13 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5483853

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Everyone in the Chamber wants to do all that they can to ensure that no child goes hungry, but we must get issues like this right from the beginning. As legislators, we must ask the hard questions, not duck them. That includes asking what exactly is going on in the Executive with their spending priorities. At the end of the previous mandate, the Assembly rushed through a number of pieces of legislation that, as the Speaker has rightly pointed out and as others have acknowledged, were not properly thought through. To put that into context, there was the Hospital Parking Charges Act, which has already been mentioned a number of times in the Assembly. Who would object to free car parking for those who are attending appointments and visiting those who find themselves ill? However, on closer inspection, the legislation was found to have financial ramifications that were not properly thought through. I believe that this Bill is in a similar position and, once again, could create that danger and a major problem in years to come. The Bill takes a discretionary scheme that was introduced during an extraordinary time — the COVID pandemic — and says that the state should fund meals during school holidays. There is nothing to suggest how that should be paid for. However, the interesting point comes when one contrasts the Bill and the situation in Northern Ireland with that in the rest of the United Kingdom. England has the holiday activities and food programme (HAF). Before the debate, I read the government briefing on what that scheme does. It says:

"Since 2018, the HAF programme has provided support to children in receipt of free school meals through holiday periods. Following successful pilots between 2018 and 2020 on 27 October 2021, the government announced a 3 year funding settlement of over £200 million each year for the HAF programme. The final year of this funding settlement is the financial year 2025 to 2026."

In my view — no disrespect to the Bill sponsor — that scheme is superior to the one in front of us today. I will set out why that is. Among other things, it ensures that children and parents are involved in the preparation of food, and they get support that is appropriate to their circumstances. None of that is addressed in the Bill before us today, which merely proposes, in clause 1:

"the Authority shall, in accordance with arrangements approved by the Department, during the relevant periods provide a financial payment in lieu of milk, meals or other refreshment to the parent of a pupil who would normally be in attendance at a school."

It is a wide-reaching Bill. There are no guard rails for how the money is to be spent. It would go to parents whose children are in receipt of free school meals, but who is to say how that would be spent? There is to be no training in food preparation and no life skills gained through a scheme akin to that in England, just more free money for parents —

— forever enshrined in law. I am happy to give way.

That brings me to my point. The money from that pilot has been sent to the Executive. I am trying to point out to you that I believe that would be a better scheme to roll out to Northern Ireland. Mr Martin talked about the £20 million and how we get the best return for that. This, to me, is the solution. That scheme has gone through the pilot, albeit we have not got the figures for how it has worked in England, but, to me, that could be the blueprint for what we do here in Northern Ireland. It is not a dig at the Minister. I am not saying that I am against giving out money to help children to ensure that they do not go hungry during holidays. I am saying that that is a better route to go down and a better scheme. Here is the big question: the money from the scheme that was rolled out in England came here to the Executive, but what did we do with it? Where is the Northern Ireland version of that scheme? I am talking about the priorities that we have in the Executive. If we had been following what England was doing, we would already have a similar scheme rolled out here in Northern Ireland. To be fair to the Bill sponsor, we would not require this Member's Bill to enact what has taken place through the pilot in England. Therefore, let us look at the Executive. Let us look at the Finance Minister. When that money came across, where was it divvied up and sent to? What was that money spent on? That would be a better version and a more productive outcome. Like you, Mr Baker, I am a Back-Bencher. I do not have intel on what the Executive have done with that money. I cannot account for it, but it is a question that the Executive can answer. How much money came to the Northern Ireland Executive because of that pilot? What was that money spent on? When that money came to the Executive, what was more important than feeding kids? That is what we have heard here today. Money was allocated from that scheme. It came to the Executive, and somebody prioritised that it was spent on something else instead of having a Northern Ireland version of the scheme that you referred to. I am happy to give way.

When I came into this place, the window had already closed, but you are detracting from the point that I am trying to make. I admire what you are trying to do with the Bill. All I am trying to point out to you is that there is a pilot scheme in England. You have lifted what was rolled out during the extraordinary time of COVID, and it is quite admirable that you have brought that to the House, but what I am saying to you is that a pilot has been rolled out in England, and I believe that that would be a better value-for-money alternative here in Northern Ireland. That is what Mr Martin asked. I believe that the £20 million would be better spent on a parallel Northern Ireland scheme. Mr Sheehan talked about spending priorities and the curriculum — reform, I think, was the term that he used. No, no, no; where did the money go that was allocated to Northern Ireland through the Barnett consequential for that scheme? Why has Sinn Féin not already delivered that in the Executive? The Bill that you are proposing is to tackle a problem that we already have money for. Do you agree? Money was sent here from Westminster for a similar scheme, but we have chosen to channel it into other things. That is a question that every party around the Executive table has to answer. How much did we get based on the pilot scheme in England, and what did we choose to spend that money on? I urge the Member to look at that scheme and try to replicate it, if possible, if the Bill is passed today and moves to the next stage. That is a very important issue for me if I am to support the Bill going forward. I need to have assurance as to where the money is coming from and what other areas in Education are going to be cut. I used my Member's statement this morning to call on the Education Minister to look again at applications for pupil allocation numbers for non-statutory playgroup provision in North Antrim and, indeed across Northern Ireland, so it would be hypocritical of me to come here today and say, "Yes, we need to do this" while I am challenging the Minister to put more money into people allocation numbers for non-statutory settings. That is where I rest my case today, and I hope that, in the Member's winding-up speech, he will give us some information from his party colleague the Finance Minister, if he would like to join us, to confirm to the House how much we got from the HAF scheme in England, where that money went and why it was prioritised to other Executive target areas and not to what you are championing here today. I agree that we have to do something about holiday hunger and child poverty, but what is the best outcome? Is it your Member's Bill or is it to recreate what they have in England? I look forward to the Education Minister's summing up when, hopefully, he can give us some more detail on that.

1,460 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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