Following the Chancellor’s commitment to increase the core schools’ budget to £2.3-billion and the passing of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in Parliament a couple of weeks ago, the Labour government is setting out how we will begin to deliver on our commitment to break down the barriers to opportunity at every level.

We’re putting children first and providing the funding needed to ensure that basic provisions, such as Breakfast Clubs, are accessible to all children that need them. The provision of free Breakfast Clubs is estimated save families £450 a year compared with the current paid model and comes as part of Labour’s commitment to reduce the overall cost to parents of sending children to school. Under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the Government is also bringing limits to the number of branded items of school uniform, further reducing costs to struggling working families.

On Breakfast Clubs the evidence is clear; ensuring that children have had a healthy breakfast before the start of the school day contributes to readiness to learn, increased concentration and improved wellbeing and behaviour. All of these benefits are vital to ensuring children make the most school time and grasp the opportunities to make the most of their potential. And it’s in all our interests that they do so.

A study conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation found that, not only did pupils that had access to a Breakfast Club make two additional months of progress in Key Stage 1 Maths, Reading and Writing when compared with those that did not have access, but it also showed improvements in behaviour and attendance.

As well as improvements in these core subjects, it is also improvement in attendance that I believe is absolutely vital to children and families across Camborne, Redruth and Hayle. I’ve always said I will be straight with constituents when facing our challenges: so we must face up to the fact that in Camborne, Redruth and Hayle we have a pretty poor record for persistent absence from school overall. Hundreds of children missing school on a regular basis, including 21.6 per cent of primary school children, is not a situation that I’m prepared to accept. The absentee figures should be setting alarm bells off in all of our communities. The figures also demonstrate some of the worst failings of 14 years of Conservative government.

The truth is that under the Conservatives, only one in ten schools had Breakfast Clubs that were up to scratch. But now the challenge to put this right falls to the Labour government and we must clear the barriers preventing these children from getting back into the classroom. This will take time, energy, patience, commitment and not least the resources to turn around these figures. But we know the challenges we will be storing up that are associated with low educational attainment. So failure comes at a huge cost.

Ensuring that funding for Breakfast Clubs gets where it needs to go in our constituency is a top priority for me in 2024.

Perran Moon

Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth