Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1506653

registered interest
date	20/09/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to ensure that children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals have access to healthy meals.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
uin	51931
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/09/2022 answer text <p>I refer the right hon. Member for Knowsley to the answer I gave on 21 September 2022 to Question <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-09-02/45077" target="_blank">45077</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 28/09/2022 13:25:41 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1505920

registered interest
date	07/09/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals have access to healthy meals.
tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
uin	49212
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2022 answer text <p>Through the provision of free school means (FSM), together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with a free meal at lunchtime, at a cost of over £1 billion a year.</p><p>The department continues to monitor the situation surrounding the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. We do not have any plans to extend universal provision, but we will continue to review free school meal eligibility, to ensure that these meals are supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest incomes. In setting a threshold, the department believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. Extending FSM eligibility to all pupils would carry a significant financial cost.</p><p>The department is also providing over £200 million per year for the next three years to provide healthy food in the holidays via our Holiday Activities and Food programme, providing breakfast clubs in thousands of schools, as well as delivering the School Fruit and Vegetable scheme and wider government schemes such as Healthy Start vouchers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 49213 49214 question first answered 22/09/2022 13:16:51 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1505956

registered interest
date	07/09/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to guarantee access to healthy meals for children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North East
tabling member printed	Fabian Hamilton
uin	49076
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2022 answer text <p>Through the provision of free school means (FSM), together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with a free meal at lunchtime, at a cost of over £1 billion a year.</p><p>The department continues to monitor the situation surrounding the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. We do not have any plans to extend universal provision, but we will continue to review free school meal eligibility, to ensure that these meals are supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest incomes. In setting a threshold, the department believes that the current level – which enables children to benefit, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools – is the right one. Extending FSM eligibility to all pupils would carry a significant financial cost.</p><p>The department is also providing over £200 million per year for the next three years to provide healthy food in the holidays via our Holiday Activities and Food programme, providing breakfast clubs in thousands of schools, as well as delivering the School Fruit and Vegetable scheme and wider government schemes such as Healthy Start vouchers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 49075 49077 49078 question first answered 22/09/2022 13:01:40 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	415 label Biography information for Fabian Hamilton

1503475

registered interest
date	02/09/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings of Child Poverty Action Group, published on 9 June 2022, on the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals, whether he is taking steps to ensure that all children living in poverty have access to healthy meals.
tabling member constituency	Knowsley
tabling member printed	Sir George Howarth
uin	45077
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2022 answer text <p>The provision of free school meals (FSM) to children from out-of-work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. Under this government, eligibility for free school meals has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. That includes the introduction of universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) and further education free meals, and a permanent extension to include some children of groups who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF), subject to specified income thresholds.</p><p>The latest published statistics, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>, show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming a free meal in school at lunch time. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021.</p><p>Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the UIFSM policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with a free meal at lunchtime, at a cost of over £1 billion a year.</p><p>The department continues to monitor the situation surrounding the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. The department thinks it is right that provision is aimed at supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest incomes. The department does not have any plans to extend universal provision, but it will continue to keep free school meal eligibility under review, to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. Extending free school meal eligibility to all pupils would carry a significant financial cost.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 45079 45377 45393 question first answered 21/09/2022 16:25:26 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth

1491035

registered interest
date	20/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent he has made of the impact of the rising cost of living on the level of food insecurity amongst school children in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; what assessment he has made of the effect of hunger on a child’s ability to learn; and what steps his Department is taking to tackle food insecurity for children and their families in those areas.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	40803
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2022 answer text <p>The department has recently published data which includes free school meal (FSM) eligibility at national, regional, and local authority level. This can be found at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>. The latest statistics show that 26.5% of pupils in the West Midlands are eligible for FSM and 24.8% are eligible in Coventry. The national average for England is 22.5%.</p><p>The department recognises that pupils’ health is improved and maintained by having a healthy, nourishing diet, which improves concentration and the ability to learn. The department spends over £1 billion each year on FSM, reaching around 1.9 million eligible children. It continues to supply a school meal to a further 1.25 million pupils through Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM).</p><p>Core schools funding to deliver benefit-related FSM has increased. This includes the FSM factor in the national funding formula (NFF), which has increased to £470 per eligible pupil this year. After the NFF rates were set, the department provided additional core funding through a schools supplementary grant. As a result, core mainstream schools funding is increasing by £2.5 billion in 2022/23, compared to last year. The per meal rate for UIFSM has also been increased to £2.41, backdated to April 2022, in recognition of recent cost pressures.</p><p>Beyond FSM, the government funds a wide range of further provision for children at different stages, particularly aimed at encouraging healthy eating from a young age. These include Healthy Start for eligible pregnant women and children under 4, free nursery milk for all under 5-year-olds, the school fruit and vegetable scheme for all children between 4 and 6 in state-funded schools, and breakfast clubs.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/09/2022 07:51:43 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1488701

registered interest
date	13/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of inflation on the levels of access to food over the school holidays for children in living in low income families.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	35998
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/07/2022 answer text <p>The department is investing over £200 million a year in its holiday activities and food programme to support families in England during the school holidays. This programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families. The provision is for school-aged children from reception to year 11 who receive benefits-related free school meals. Local authorities also have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide holiday club places for other children who are not in receipt of benefits-related free school meals, but who the local authority believe could benefit from the provision.</p><p>Schools are responsible for the provision of school meals and may enter individual contracts with suppliers and caterers to meet this duty. The department is confident that schools will continue providing pupils with nutritious school meals as required by the school food standards.</p><p>The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. These are global challenges, that is why the government is providing over £15 billion in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22 billion announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37 billion this year.</p><p>To support people who need additional welfare help, the government is providing an extra £500 million of local support in England, via the Household Support Fund, which is being extended to March 2023. This brings the total amount provided to £1.5 billion since October 2021.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 18/07/2022 16:45:23 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1488790

registered interest
date	13/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department is taking steps to guarantee access to healthy meals for children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	36098
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2022 answer text <p>Under this government, free school meal eligibility has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. This includes the introduction of universal infant free school meals, further education free meals, and the permanent extension of free school meals to some groups of children who have no recourse to public funds.</p><p>Under current criteria, in January 2022, 1.9 million pupils were eligible for and claiming a benefit-related free meal in school at lunch time, saving families hundreds of pounds a year per child. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 15% in 2015.</p><p>The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is providing over £37 billion in support for the cost of living this year. This includes an extra £500 million of local support, which will be extended from this October to March 2023 to help those most in need with payments towards the rising cost of food, energy, and water bills. This brings the total amount provided through the Household Support Fund to £1.5 billion since October 2021. This is administered by local councils in England and helps those in most need with payments towards the rising cost of food, energy, and water bills.</p><p>In setting eligibility for free school meals, the government’s position remains that it is right that provision is targeted at supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest income. The department will continue to keep all free school meal eligibility under review, to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. Schools are responsible for the provision of school meals and may enter individual contracts with suppliers and caterers to meet this duty. The department is confident that schools will continue providing pupils with nutritious school meals, as required by the school food standards.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 36099 36100 question first answered 21/07/2022 16:38:48 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1487297

registered interest
date	07/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of inflation on the levels of access to food over the school holidays for children in living in low income families.
tabling member constituency	Neath
tabling member printed	Christina Rees
uin	32605
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2022 answer text <p><strong></strong></p><p>Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.</p><p> </p><p>In England, the holiday activities and food programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families. This benefits their heath, wellbeing and learning, and contributes to recovery from COVID-19. This is supported by over £200 million funding each year.</p><p>To support people who need additional welfare help, the government is providing an extra £500 million of local support via the Household Support Fund, which is being extended to March 2023. This brings the total amount provided to £1.5 billion since October 2021.</p><p> </p><p>Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula up to October 2022, and a further £79 million from October 2022 to March 2023.</p><p> </p><p>Schools are responsible for the provision of school meals and may enter individual contracts with suppliers and caterers to meet this duty.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 32604 question first answered 15/07/2022 13:55:49 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4525 label Biography information for Christina Rees

1231861

registered interest
date	07/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will discuss with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the potential merits of extending the COVID Summer Food Fund for school holidays in the 2020-21 academic year.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	86170
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/09/2020 answer text <p>The government has taken unprecedented and substantial action to ensure that children do not go hungry as we take measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak, including in relation to free school meals.</p><p>In the first instance, we asked schools to support eligible pupils by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. For circumstances where this was not possible, we also established a national voucher scheme. In addition, the COVID-19 Summer Food Fund supported eligible families during the summer holidays.</p><p>This summer, our £9 million Holiday Activities and Food Programme also worked across 17 local authorities, providing thousands of children with access to healthy meals and enriching activities and building on the success of the 2018 and 2019 programmes. We are currently assessing the scheme to ascertain the best way to provide children with activities as well as food during the holiday period. Our 2020 programme will help to show how free provision can be coordinated in different local areas and it will provide valuable information about what works in supporting this sector in future.</p><p>From 2021, the government has a manifesto commitment to invest up to £1 billion to help create more high-quality wraparound and holiday childcare places. We will announce further details on this new investment in due course.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 86171 question first answered 15/09/2020 12:24:34 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1203797

registered interest
date	15/06/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure that (a) children from disadvantaged families and (b) other children have adequate access to food during all school holidays.
tabling member constituency	Wolverhampton South West
tabling member printed	Stuart Anderson
uin	59612
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2020 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Members to the answer I have given today to Question 54195.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 59614 question first answered 23/06/2020 15:01:44 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4742 label Biography information for Stuart Anderson