Boris Johnson ‘commits to review’ of free school meal parcels in Marcus Rashford phone call

Anti-poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford has spoken to Boris Johnson  about his concerns over the standard of free school meal food parcels,  and said the PM promised a “full review” of the supply chain.

The phone call came as Gavin Williamson, the education secretary,  promised to “name and shame” any food suppliers providing sub-standard packages to children in England entitled to free school meals during the current lockdown.

Mr Williamson said he was “absolutely disgusted” by the standards of some food parcels pictured on social media, and promised to support any school taking action against suppliers.

In a tweet after speaking to Mr Johnson, Manchester United footballer Rashford said: “Just had a good conversation with the prime minister.

“He has assured me that he is committed to correcting the issue with the food hampers and that a full review of the supply chain is taking place. He agrees that images of hampers being shared on Twitter are unacceptable.”

The precise nature of any review was not immediately clear. Sources confirmed that he had thanked Rashford for highlighting issues around food parcels and agreed that the contents of the most controversial parcel were “completely unacceptable”.

The source said the PM had set out the steps the government will be taking immediately to address the issue, but did not go into further detail.

Mr Williamson confirmed that a national voucher scheme will be launched next week to give schools the option to scrap food parcels.

Meal provider Chartwells apologised last night after an outcry over images on social media of packages with meagre contents intended to provide lunches for children for several days.

Mr Rashford spearheaded demands for improvements to the “hampers”, which are supposed to replace a £15-a-week shopping voucher scheme, but which one mother costed at just over £5 worth of purchases from a local supermarket.

Speaking to the House of Commons Education Committee, Mr Williamson said: “When I saw that picture, I was absolutely disgusted. As a dad myself, I just thought ‘How can a family in receipt of that really be expected to deliver five nutritious meals as required?’

“It is just not acceptable. It has being made absolutely clear to Chartwells and to the whole sector that that sort of behaviour is just not right, it will not be tolerated we will not live with that.

“There are clear standards as a sector that they need to deliver against, and if they do not deliver against them, actions will have to be taken.”

Mr Williamson said that education minister Vicky Ford met with Chartwells on Tuesday.

And he added: “Chartwells made absolutely clear that this isn’t acceptable and they’ve apologised for this.

“We will support any school that needs to take action against any food contracter and will name and shame any of those not delivering against the standard.”

Mr Williamson told the committee that schools in England already had the option of using local voucher schemes with nearby supermarkets.

And he said that the national voucher scheme will be available to all schools from next week.