I AM surprised at Kate Green's plea to stop children going hungry in the holidays.

There is such a thing as 'child benefit' paid throughout the year to families.

Free school dinners are a bonus on top of this money.

Surely the money saved during the 40 or so weeks that the children are receiving free dinners could be put aside to cover the 12 weeks of holiday?

That should not be too much to ask, and would save the taxpayer having to fund another handout.

After all, the purpose of child benefit is primarily that of feeding and providing essentials for the child, not a source of income for the parent, or parents.

Perhaps one way of increasing the benefit to poorer families would be to introduce means testing, so that benefit was paid only to those parents on low income.

David Olliver, Altrincham