Data from the National Child Measurement Programme, reported by MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger (APPG), shows that last year in England 6,367 children started reception underweight – an increase of 16 per cent since 2012.
Furthermore, 7,663 children started their final year of primary school underweight – an increase of 15 per cent since 2012.
The fifth report of the APPG, entitled Britain’s Not-so-Hidden Hunger, raises concerns that there is still no uniform data on childhood hunger, but includes evidence that a significant proportion of children are arriving at school hungry each day.
A number of snapshot surveys were carried out for the report, including in APPG chair Frank Field’s own constituency of Birkenhead, where one school estimated that 20 per cent of children arrive hungry each day. Another school put this figure at 27 per cent.
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