Attending the 2024 Conservative Party Conference was interesting for several reasons this year. First, was the sense that there were two events running in parallel. One being the leadership contest, with all four candidates highly visible throughout the main venue and events. The second could be found in the fringe events and discussions at receptions where the wider party members, MPs and MSPs reflected on a need to set their priorities for the new parliament. Magic Breakfast’s Chief Executive, Lindsey MacDonald, shares some reflections.
Key takeaways from the Conference
There was a desire to reflect on the past 14 years and I heard several MPs highlighting the Conservative Government’s achievements, often citing the introduction of free school breakfasts through the National School Breakfast Programme. This offered a valuable jumping off point to engage MPs and their teams in their role, as official Opposition. Children and young people will be relying on them to influence the school breakfast policy and Children’s Wellbeing Bill being proposed by the new Labour government. As one shadow education minister said “we’ll support good ideas” while going on to highlighting the need to hold the Government to account for its policies, their implementation, and their impact.
One of the recurring themes throughout the conference was the recognition that schools cannot operate in isolation. There was consensus that social mobility, the widening attainment gap, child poverty, the mental health crisis, and many other challenges facing schools are not issues that schools can solve on their own. The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel De Souza’s call to “wrap services around children” echoed what we at Magic Breakfast have been saying for years: we must look beyond the school gates to truly address educational inequality. Schools are a central part of the solution, but they need support from government, local authorities, and charities to make a lasting impact.
Who will be held accountable to hungry children and young people?
We hosted a roundtable, alongside Education Policy Institute (EPI) which included people who had been at the heart of government when the National School Breakfast Programme was being introduced, who were part of the Education ministerial team, Conservative local councillors, headteachers, Trust CEOs, and young people who had relied upon school breakfasts at school. This discussion gave valuable insight to the challenges that are likely to arise when implementing the school breakfast policy and things we need to consider.
What struck me in the discussion was accountability. How the policy, legislation, funding all co-exist will drive decision-making and priorities. The Government also needs to be clear about the policy’s objectives and who is responsible for achieving these. Ultimately, accountability sits with the Government.
I had the privilege of attending the Sutton Trust’s panel discussion on social mobility, where I asked how we could hold the government accountable for its commitments to school breakfasts and that implementation follows the evidence. What struck me was the broad consensus and support for free school breakfast provision. This stems from the fact that the evidence is overwhelming: providing a nutritious breakfast to children and young people improves attendance, behaviour, and academic performance.
More than breakfast
Several discussions reinforced the fact that breakfast provision cannot just be about feeding children and young people – it should be about creating a soft start to the school day that can encourage attendance, create a positive school culture and alleviate behaviour issues, improve safeguarding, and enable skills development and attainment.
The Road Ahead
At the end of the conference, and this conference season – I was left with questions about the future of school breakfasts. How can we ensure implementation is effective and considers the evidence? How do we ensure it reaches the children and families it seeks to support? Who will be held accountable for removing hunger as a barrier to learning at the start of the day? And how do we not lose sight of the millions of children and young people who will face a rumbling tummy in their morning classes?
At Magic Breakfast, we are committed to ensuring that no child or young person in the UK starts the day too hungry to learn. As we move forward, we will continue to collaborate with government bodies, local authorities, and partners in the education sector to scale up what works in all corners of the UK.
The conversations at this Autumn’s conferences were just the beginning. Regardless of who becomes Leader of the Opposition, now, is the time to turn those discussions into action.
