Sadiq Khan quizzed on future of free school meals in London and across England.
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00:00Delivering free school meals has proved hugely popular that report makes that
00:03really clear. The cost of the policy amounted to about 135 million last year
00:09you've increased the funding to 140 this year. How are you going to keep paying
00:13for this policy? Are you going to be crossing your fingers every year for
00:16higher than expected business rates? Well I'm really excited at the
00:19publication of today's independent evaluation which confirms the huge
00:23success Universal Free School Meals has been. If you do a cost-benefit analysis
00:27in relation to the money it costs to provide the free school meals and see the
00:31benefits. Just the first report shows it's remarkable in relation to helping
00:35and significantly improving the finances of a family, in relation to the
00:40relationships within the school community, in relation to the well-being
00:44health of children, in relation to the productivity and concentration of those
00:49children. So I think it's good value for money in relation to 140 million pounds.
00:54The promise I made to Londoners is as long as I'm mayor I'm going to carry on
00:58providing free school meals. Londoners had a choice on May 2nd because the
01:01Conservatives said had they been elected they'd have stopped this because they've
01:04got other priorities. I'm quite clear this is a priority for me.
01:07Okay but when we spoke in January, this was before you'd committed to keeping
01:13the policy permanent, you said what I can't do is commit to things in
01:17perpetuity when I've not got a recurring source of income, that being the key
01:21phrase. So I'm afraid the bad news is I can't say to Londoners that I'll be
01:25providing universal free school meals in perpetuity. Where is that recurring
01:29source of income now? Well we have at the moment single-year deals from the
01:33government and so I publish my budget every year. In due course I'll be
01:36publishing my budget that will set out how we're going to fund free school meals
01:40going forward next year and every year as long as there are single-year deals
01:44from the government I'll be publishing every year my budget. But the good news
01:49is the government's going to be publishing a comprehensive spending
01:53review come spring. Our ask of the government is a multi-year deal from the
01:58government. If we get that from the government, a multi-year deal, I'll be
02:01able to give a multi-year settlement. That will provide the certainty to keep
02:04to make the policy in place for the rest of your mayoralty? Well the
02:08certainty that Londoners should have is that I'm the mayor and so I've said that
02:11if I win the election on May the 2nd I'll make this a policy permanent as
02:14long as I'm mayor. Londoners know from my track record when I make promises I
02:20keep them. Earlier this year you also said, frankly speaking, it shouldn't be us
02:25having to pay for universal free school meals, it should be the government. Is that still
02:28your position? Well I'm really really pleased on July the 4th we had a
02:31change in the government which means we will from April see primary schools in
02:36London benefiting from the free breakfast which are really important but
02:40also we've seen since July the 4th the disclosure from the Treasury confirmed
02:44by the OBR this is 22 billion pounds black hole which needs to be filled some
02:48way. I fully appreciate and understand why the government can't you know
02:52provide funding for universal free school meals. I'm hoping in the medium
02:55to long term once this government fixes the mess left by the previous government
03:00we'll have a proper conversation about how we can have this going forward.
03:03That's the number one recommendation in the report, it's top of the list. It
03:07says the government should commit to phased rollout of universal free school
03:11meals across the country. You say you want a conversation on that, is it not a
03:15recommendation you completely support, you want to see what in place by the
03:19end of the term? I'm a record of saying it's good policy, that's why it's in my manifesto and
03:23that's why I'm here being delighted. But you endorsed the recommendation, you think the
03:27government should be looking at this phased rollout of national free school
03:30meals? I fully understand the pressures the government's under, I was with Rachel Reeves
03:33last week and when you hear some of the stories in relation to what this
03:37government has inherited it's just alarming. I know though what it's like
03:41inheriting a mess. I inherited a mess where I had a bridge that hadn't been started
03:45costing 50 million pounds. I remember I had water cannons I couldn't use, sitting in
03:48storage, so I understand what it's like inheriting a mess. I sympathise fully
03:52with the challenges that Rachel Reeves and her team has. The great news is the
03:58promise the Labour Party made in the manifesto of free breakfast is going to
04:02happen ahead of schedule. London children will see the benefits in April, a free
04:06breakfast and a free lunch, which is a quite remarkable bearing in mind just two
04:11years ago there was neither of those things. You support the recommendation
04:15but it can't be done? I don't speak for the government, what I know from the
04:19government is, conversations I've had with them, it's a mess in relation to their
04:22inheritance. They're trying really hard to clean up that mess. 22 billion pounds is
04:26not an insignificant amount of money. 22 billion pounds a year deficit is what
04:30they've inherited.