Exclusive: Boris Johnson appears to mislead MPs about the freedom schools had to offer vouchers, rather than parcels, to free school meals children
Pic: Food for a week provided to a child at Pimlico Academy, Westminster.
The Prime Minister appears to have misled MPs yesterday as he suggested that it was entirely up to schools whether or not they offered food parcels to children eligible for them, or vouchers as an alternative.
Appearing before the cross-party Commons Liaison Committee, Boris Johnson did not mention that, up to yesterday, guidance from the government to schools had strongly steered them towards the now-very-controversial parcels, rather than towards the vouchers.
Ironically, at one stage Johnson warned his Labour interrogator, Catherine McKinnell, not to “inadvervently mislead” members of the committee on the freedom of schools to choose what to do, before appearing to do exactly that himself.
In fact, an academy trust which has been very close to the government was this week directing parents towards the Department for Education guidance as the reason why it could not provide them with vouchers, Education Uncovered can also reveal.
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By Warwick Mansell for EDUCATION UNCOVERED
Published: 14 January 2021
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