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Children's holiday hunger a 'major social evil'

Allowing British children to go hungry in the school holidays is a "major social evil" that needs urgent Government action, a group of MPs has concluded.

In a report laying bare the "horror of hunger" the MPs estimated three million children in the UK are at risk of going hungry during the holidays and called on the Government to make £100,000 grants available to councils to solve the problem.

They concluded that children who don't eat well in the holidays return to school "malnourished, sluggish, and dreary - some even lose 'significant' amounts of weight".

As an example, the report mentioned a group of children taking part in a holiday football tournament having to drop out of the latter stages of the competition, as they had not eaten a meal in the days leading up to the event.

"Their bodies simply gave up on them," it said.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger called for radical steps: "We recommend that the Government allocates £41.5m - one tenth of the Healthy Pupils Capital Programme that will be funded by the revenues from the sugary drinks levy - towards the provision of free meals and fun for children during school holidays."

In North Ayrshire the council already funds a £70,000 programme every year that allows school kitchens to stay open in the holidays.

At Elderbank Primary in Irvine teacher Ailsa Bigham told Sky News: "You can see it in their faces when they turn up hungry, they are just not ready to be here... offering them that meal can make all the difference.

"I think it is a really valuable service that is being offered here in the holidays - it so good to see parents coming in as well."

Community development officer Colin Young runs holiday clubs in Ayrshire which are also supplied by the school canteens.

He told Sky News: "It's often through no fault of their parents, money is tight here."

Mr Young said that many people don't want to admit there is a problem.

He added: "I think it is something that a lot of people maybe shun, maybe don't want to see it.

"It exists everywhere, it is definitely there and it needs to be addressed."

The report also praised the work of people and organisations who have already started "linking arms with other similarly minded individuals to begin a national campaign to rectify a major social evil".

They called on all political parties to adopt strategies for dealing with holiday hunger in their manifestos for the General Election.