 |
answer text |
<p>The information requested is not held centrally.</p><p> </p><p>To be eligible to
receive free school meals (FSM), a pupil or their parent must be in receipt of any
one of the following listed benefits and must make a claim to the school for FSM:</p><blockquote><p>Income
Support</p><p>Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance</p><p>Income-related Employment and
Support Allowance</p><p>Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act (1999)</p><p>The
guaranteed element of Pension Credit</p><p>Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also
entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)</p><p>Working
Tax Credit run-on: paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit</p><p>Universal
Credit: if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than
£7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get).</p></blockquote><p>
</p><p>We do not collect or hold data on the benefit which has qualified a pupil for
FSM, therefore we are unable to identify those in receipt that may be in working households.
We also do not collect any data on the number of pupils who may have received a food
parcel from a food bank.</p><p> </p><p>The government believes there is a need for
more robust statistics in order to better understand the trend in food insecurity.
Building a better understanding of household food needs will help ensure we’re targeting
support to those who need it most. This is why we have worked with food insecurity
experts, the Office for National Statistics, and the Scottish Government to introduce
a new set of food security questions in the Family Resources Survey from April 2019.</p><p>
</p><p>This means that from spring 2021, we will be able to monitor the prevalence
and severity of household food insecurity at a national level, and for specific groups
to better understand the drivers of food insecurity and identify which groups are
most at risk.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
|
|
