More than 13,000 children in Cornwall currently get free school meals to ensure that they don't go hungry.

That is 16% of all schoolchildren in the Duchy having parents who qualify – although it is widely believed that many more are also eligible but choose not to apply.

And that number is already rising with more and more families finding themselves struggling to make ends meet as the impact of coronavirus leads to more redundancies across Cornwall.

Free school meals is a hot topic across the UK – helped by a high profile campaign by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford.

The striker, who himself was a beneficiary of free school meals when growing up, has been campaigning tirelessly to get the Government to provide food for children in school holidays as well as term time.

And, after MPs voted against a motion to extend free school meals, he has championed the legion of businesses all over the country which have stepped in to provide food for children.

This includes many across Cornwall who have offered their help, despite the hospitality industry being one of the hardest hit by the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

Sally Hawken, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for children and families, is pleased that the issue of free school meals has become a national debate but also hopes that the conversation will continue on a long-term basis.

As of last Friday (October 23) there were 13,362 children in Cornwall getting free school meals.

Cllr Hawken said: "Cornwall is not just cream teas and surfing, there is extreme poverty here. People shouldn't be surprised by that number, but maybe for some the penny hasn't dropped.

"We constantly talk about child poverty here in Cornwall but hopefully now people will start to open their eyes."

All six of Cornwall's MPs voted against the Labour motion calling for the Government to provide free school meals in the half term and Christmas holidays.

Many of them cited funding which the Government has given to local authorities like Cornwall Council saying that this should be used to help those in need.

Cllr Hawken said: "I am desperately unhappy about an issue like child poverty being used by people to play political games. It is not particularly helpful at all."

She said that in 2017 a cross party all parliamentary group, which included the then Truro and Falmouth MP Sarah Newton made a series of recommendations that said that the Government needed to provide more support to address food poverty outside school term times.

Cllr Hawken said that as a result the then Government announced plans for a pilot scheme and invited applications – Cornwall applied for funding but was unsuccessful.

However the council decided that it would run its own small scale programme, working with community groups in different parts of Cornwall in the summer holidays to provide activity programmes which would also provide food for children who needed it.

The following year the council formed a partnership with Plymouth City Council to bid again for funding, but was again unsuccessful.

Despite this the council again operated its own programme with Cllr Hawken explaining: "Cornwall Council is absolutely committed to try and feed children in the summer holidays."

She admits that this would not be possible without the support of the various community groups which work with the council to ensure that the programme works.

And the council has continued to review what it has done: "One of the things that always bothered me was it was not a universal offer. We could see there were some areas of Cornwall where no groups had applied.

"We went out to those areas and asked people to come to our meetings and work on whether we could provide somewhere to feed children and do activities."

Planning for this year's summer holiday provision was well underway when the coronavirus pandemic broke out and so the council had to review what it would do.

It eventually decided that it would not be appropriate to have activities due to the various restrictions but wanted to continue to provide food to those children who need it.

"We decided that the focus should be on the food as that is the most pressing thing at the moment."

But then the Government performed a U-turn due to pressure from Marcus Rashford and agreed to provide funding for free school meals in the summer holidays.

Cllr Hawken said: "In the eleventh hour they U-turned and so we had to look at what we were doing and whether we were still needed and we decided that we were.

"The programme that the government runs requires schools to administer the vouchers, but after the end of July schools were not there to do that.

"We were still getting free school meals applications in through August. We created our own voucher scheme through the summer to make sure children could access them."

In light of the current Rashford campaign and the Government deciding not to support extending free school meals Cornwall Council has decided to continue providing food to those in need in the Christmas holidays and Cllr Hawken said that thoughts were already turning to Easter.

However one of the concerns she now has is ensuring that all those children who qualify for free school meals get them.

"What can never be said enough is there is a big gap between the number of people on free school meals and the numbers who could be entitled to them.

"We still have an issue that there is a stigma attached to claiming a free school meal.

"Sometimes people don't know if it applies to them, quite a lot of people don't apply when they could do."

Cllr Hawken also shattered some of the myths about those who get free school meals, particularly that they only go to those children whose parents are out of work.

"There are a lot of people on benefits who are in work and there are certain benefits which mean you qualify for free school meals.

"There are a lot of people who are working but are not paid enough to be able to survive without those benefits.

"Those people don't have much money coming in, they might have enough to just get by and they will budget their spending. But what happens then is they can be very close to being in crisis.

"They will work out their spending on food and everything else they need and then something falls off the car and you need the care to get to work or otherwise you don't get paid. They then have to divert money for bread, yoghurts and bananas in your child's lunchbox and sort the car out. Then you are in crisis."

But Cllr Hawken was clear that many of those who qualify for free school meals may not be in food crisis.

However she was clear that for many of those low income families "it doesn't take an awful lot to tip over into crisis".

The concern is that with the coronavirus pandemic and more people being made redundant the demand for free school meals and support is only going to increase.

The Cabinet member said: "There will be more people coming onto benefits and more on free school meals."

Since the Rashford campaign sparked a wave of cafes, pubs, restaurants and businesses offering to provide food for children there has been a surge of interest from the public as well.

Cllr Hawken said that some of those businesses offering support have had people contact them asking to make donations.

She said: "There are also some amazing people around in our communities who are helping to put together food packages and delivering meals to families who need help."

But there are stories about parents who are having to make difficult choices including as the weather gets colder whether to spend money on food or heating.

Cllr Hawken said: "This is not jst about food – there are all sorts of issues which are connected with this.

"I would hope that the Government will take a wider look at this – there is all sorts of evidence out there showing how big a problem this is. Let's get this sorted and make it sustainable going forward.

"It breaks my heart that we are having to talk about how we can ensure that people can get food. We shouldn't be in a place where there is food insecurity."

Some MPs who voted against extending the free school meals into holidays have argued that it is parents' responsibility to feed their children.

Cllr Hawken is clear that in her experience all parents take that responsibility very seriously.

She said: "We shouldn't have to talk about this. At the moment there will be some people who will have to spend a significant proportion of their day living in fear about how to feed their children. What a shocking state of affairs.

"Those parents, with every fibre of their being, want to be able to feed their children, but some simply can't.

"It impacts on their mental health. That any parent is in the place where they are worried whether they can feed their children, you can't tell me that doesn't have an impact on their mental health. It is a difficult, difficult place.

"There are mums and dads who give the available food to their children and go hungry themselves.

"I don't believe that blaming parents is helpful or blaming children. Children don't ask to be born and shouldn't be blamed in this situation.

"Almost all parents believe that is their responsibility, to feed their children. Sadly an awful lot of them are on such low pay that it is a worry."

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