Government to investigate as Sir Keir Starmer and Marcus Rashford slam ‘woefully inadequate’ free school meal parcels

The Government has promised urgent action after images shared on social media showed the “woefully inadequate” free school meal parcels being sent to families.

The image of a food parcel shared on Twitter by Roadside Mum.

It comes as both Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford slammed the food parcels that are supposed to feed families for three days.

Children’s Minister Vicky Ford said she would be “urgently” looking into the matter after one mother posted an image of a £30 parcel which was estimated to contain just over £5 worth of food.

Sir Keir described the situation as “a disgrace”.

He tweeted: “The images appearing online of woefully inadequate free school meal parcels are a disgrace.

“Where is the money going?

“This needs sorting immediately so families don’t go hungry through lockdown.”

Footballer and campaigner Rashford tweeted another picture and wrote: “3 days of food for 1 family… Just not good enough.

“Then imagine we expect the children to engage in learning from home.

“Not to mention the parents who, at times, have to teach them who probably haven’t eaten at all so their children can… We MUST do better.”

Sharing the image, Twitter user Roadside Mum said: “2 days jacket potato with beans, 8 single cheese sandwiches, 2 days carrots, 3 days apples, 2 days soreen, 3 days frubes.

“Spare pasta & tomato. Will need mayo for pasta salad.

“Issued instead of £30 vouchers. I could do more with £30 to be honest.”

The Department for Education wrote on Twitter: “We have clear guidelines and standards for food parcels, which we expect to be followed.

“Parcels should be nutritious and contain a varied range of food.”

Chartwells, the company which she said provided the parcel, responded to say they would investigate.

They said: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, this does not reflect the specification of one of our hampers.”

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