Mr. Stephen Moffatt:

On the previous question, it is vital that we keep an eye on the numbers. Our services are seeing children of families being squeezed out of the accommodation that they were able to access during Covid. Greater numbers are being pushed towards homelessness. That is a very real concern for a lot of our services.

On what the Government could and should do around back to school costs, there are three obvious choices to be made. One relates to voluntary contributions. Time and again, schools look for children from all families to make voluntary contributions, regardless of backgrounds. In some circumstances they are chased up for it regularly. Parents are really struggling with finances and this is pushing them over the edge. Schools should be actively discouraged from doing that and steps should be taken by the Department to ensure that the issue of voluntary contributions comes to an end. There are steps that the Department and schools could take to reduce the stigma particularly associated with parents feeling stigmatised if they do not pay those voluntary contributions.

Another step would be uniforms. The Department has issued a circular on uniforms saying that schools should allow all children to attend school wearing a uniform with, say, an iron-on crest but we know that is not being implemented everywhere. There are circumstances where parents who are struggling with finances are having to shell out considerable sums of money for expensive uniforms. That is not acceptable at the moment. There should never be a burden placed on parents to try to dress their children in a certain way that might mean that they are put under further strain for heating that month. There is a real choice to be made on uniforms.

Finally, there is school books. Time and again parents tell us about the cost of school books and now, additionally, with IT facilities, paying for codes in order to access online activities. It is vital that the Government takes a step back and asks if we are going to supply those books free to children who need them or if we are going to continue to allow parents to feel the pressure of having to provide for them every year.