A children's charity last night blasted Health Minister Nelson Bascome after he labelled hard-up parents unable to feed their youngsters breakfast as possibly "negligent'' and "abusive''.

Mr. Bascome made the allegation after accusing the Coalition for the Protection of Children of failing to report concerns over hungry children to the ministry.

The Royal Gazette reported claims on Friday by coalition chairwoman Sheelagh Cooper that 15 percent of children lived below the poverty line and, as a result, many went to school without breakfast.

But yesterday, Mr. Bascome played down the situation and accused the agency of failing to report incidents to his ministry.

He said: "If she (Mrs. Cooper) is an agent dealing with the care and treatment of children then cases like this should be reported to the authority.

"We have not received a call from Mrs. Cooper's agency.

"Any helping professional will know that they need to report any findings to the ministry. In this case it has not been done and I would urge all helping professionals that when they find situations of abuse that it is reported to the ministry.

"Failing to feed your child properly is part of neglect.'' But last night Mrs. Cooper hit back and accused the health minister of being "defensive''.

She said she had not been laying the blame at Government's door when talking about the problem.

And she contradicted Mr. Bascome's claim by saying that the issue of malnourished children had been brought to the ministry's attention on numerous occasions.

Mrs. Cooper said: "I have raised the issue of poverty among our children over and over and the specific problem of children being inadequately fed has been brought to the attention of the ministry many times before.

"This doesn't sound like the Nelson Bascome I knew before he became the minister - this response to the problem sounds almost defensive.

"It's almost as though he has become more interested in saving face than actually addressing the problem.'' Minister `on the defensive' And she said using words likes "neglect'' and "abuse'' would scare most hard-up parents off seeking help, for fear that social workers would be brought in.

She said finding it difficult to buy food does not always mean parents were being negligent.

To combat the problem of children going to school without food, the coalition has launched a breakfast voucher programme called A Breakfast For Every Child through the MarketPlace chain of supermarkets, which has donated cash to the initiative.

She said Government should be trying to assist the programme, but taking the stance it had did not help.

"It's not very helpful to argue about the extent of the problem,'' she added.

"I know that Mr. Bascome knows there is a problem - we should be working together.

"The minister's insistence that parents who find themselves unable to feed their children properly are abusive or neglectful and should be reported doesn't seem like a very helpful response.

"How can they come and seek help from his ministry when that is the view that his staff will hold.'' Mr. Bascome said he applauded the breakfast voucher project, but questioned the prevalence of the problem.

The health minister said that when he first read about the claim of poverty and children going hungry on Friday, he asked his department to investigate by contacting schools and questioning pupils.

But he said the majority of schools said it was too early in the term to ascertain how prevalent the problem was or how regularly children were going without breakfast or lunch.

He said: "I put my department on alert, that first and foremost we get to find exactly who these individuals are and in what way we are able to assist them.

"We contacted a number of schools but their response was that it was too early in the term to provide accurate numbers on this problem of going hungry.'' However, he said the ministry would continue to monitor the situation over the next few weeks.

But he said of the studies carried out in primary schools, using teachers and counsellors to question youngsters, only one child had an inadequate lunch.

And he added: "The children who indicated they had come to school without breakfast did so not because they did not have breakfast food in their home.

"The first reason was that they did not have time - they were late.

"Second was because they did not like what was being prepared. Thirdly, they said they did not like to eat breakfast because they said it made them feel sick.'' He said he was confident that the study carried out was a true picture of the situation and that children had not lied about their breakfast to save face.

And he said only a handful of children on the Island were enrolled in lunch programmes, where sponsors provided cash to buy lunch for disadvantaged pupils, showing that the percentage of hungry children was not so great.

But he said the ministry was not naive and appreciated that there were some families and children who faced "challenges'' in providing food for themselves.

He said for that reason, it was important that they were reported to the ministry and passed on to the right agencies, so lasting help could be provided.

"What needs to be kept in mind is the frequency of children going to school without breakfast, and or lunch, and the important reason is why,'' added Mr.

Bascome.

"For most cases, they are not reported as regular re-occurring cases.'' But he said the ministry did want to help people to make lasting changes to their lives and said it wanted to give people a "hand-up, rather than a hand out''.

He said the department offered the opportunity for people to re-train and gain work, and said, as a result of Friday's story, a number of employers, particularly Hotels, had come forward offering work opportunities.

But Mrs. Cooper doubted that the health ministry had been given a true picture of the situation, claiming that some children might be too embarrassed to say there was no breakfast food at home.

And she said having worked to get legislation in place to protect children for 20 years, she was eager to ensure that it was used when needed.

She added: "You can be sure that I would be the last person in the world to fail to report something that I believed fell within the gambit of that legislation.'' Nelson Bascome