Minister ‘shocked’ after poorer pupils forced to buy bottles of water at school

Malnourished children are eating tissue paper to fend off hunger, report finds

MP for Stratford on Avon Nadhim Zahawi (PA)

An education minister has been left “shocked” by stories of poorer children being forced to buy bottles of water amid a lack of access to free drinking water at school.

Nadhim Zahawi, children and families minister, has urged headteachers to make sure that disadvantaged children do not feel stigmatised because they are entitled to free school meals.

In a letter, Mr Zahawi has called on headteachers to read a recent report from the Children's Future Food Inquiry, which looked at the food situation of disadvantaged children across the UK.

Laurence Guinness, chief executive of the Childhood Trust, told the inquiry that children had “scavenged for food from bins, eaten tissue paper to fend off hunger [and] bartered for food at school.”

One in three children live in poverty in the UK, with an estimated 2.5m living in "food insecure" households, the inquiry found.

In the letter to schools in England, Mr Zahawi said: “I was shocked to hear some young people report that they do not have access to free drinking water at school and often have buy a bottle of water.

“Schools are legally obliged to provide access at all times to free drinking water on the school premises.

“I would urge you to consider whether you need to do more to make free water as easily available and as visible as you can.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said many schools make it easy for children to enjoy free school meals without stigma.

He said: "The public should be assured that the vast majority of schools already do these things, and indeed go much further by providing food to the many children who arrive at school hungry because of the rising tide of child poverty in our country.

Mr Barton added: "The Government must do more to address the devastating impact of years of austerity on many families."

The Department for Education has established a £26m programme to set up or improve more than 1,700 breakfast clubs in schools.