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1176904

registered interest
date	06/02/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it remains his Department's policy to fund universal infant free school meals; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	13441
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2020 answer text <p>We are making a significant investment in free school meals for children. Nutritious food in schools helps ensure pupils are well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and can concentrate and learn. We ensure that the most disadvantaged children receive a free healthy lunch at school and in 2019, around 1.3 million disadvantaged children benefitted from this important provision, saving families roughly £400 a year.</p><p> </p><p>Free meals were also extended to disadvantaged further education students in September 2014. In addition, universal infant free school meals were introduced in 2014, and the department spends around £600 million each year ensuring 1.4 million infants receive a free meal through this programme. We have confirmed the funding arrangements for this provision for the current academic year, and arrangements for 2020/21 will be confirmed in due course.</p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 13/02/2020 13:11:44 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

1175048

registered interest
date	31/01/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the allowance for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	10738
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>As part of the increased funding for schools, announced by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, on 30 August 2019, the benefits-related free school meals factor in the national funding formula will be increased in line with inflation.</p><p>For universal infant free school meals (UIFSM), schools receive funding through a separate grant and the provisional allocations were confirmed for the 2019/20 academic year last June. We have not taken decisions on future rates for UIFSM rates yet.</p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 10/02/2020 16:09:03 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

921863

registered interest
date	11/06/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that after the full roll-out of universal credit no child loses their entitlement to free school meals as a result of fluctuating earnings when their overall earnings are under £7,400 in a given year.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	152092
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2018 answer text <p>We recognise that some households see their earnings fluctuate from month to month. To address this, we will ensure that a claimant’s earnings can be checked over a period lasting up to three months (where this data is available), rather than taking only the most recent month of earnings into consideration.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 19/06/2018 12:27:56 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

816907

registered interest
date	05/01/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of families that will become ineligible for free school meals as a result of proposed changes to the net earnings threshold and how many of those families would benefit financially by reducing their income in order to receive free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	121334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2018 answer text <p>We are currently consulting on proposals for free school meals eligibility under Universal Credit. We will consider the responses to the consultation carefully and will continue to refine our analysis as our policy on this matter develops.</p><p>Currently around 1.1 million of the most disadvantaged children are eligible for and claim a free nutritious meal. This government provides significant funding to ensure the most disadvantaged children receive free school meals. Under our proposals, no existing recipients of free school meals should lose their entitlement following the introduction of new eligibility criteria. We have proposed protection arrangements to ensure that every pupil who is eligible and receiving free school meals at the point at which the criteria are changed (or any claimants who gain free school meals during the rollout of Universal Credit) should be protected against losing their meals whilst Universal Credit is fully rolled out nationally. In addition, any protected pupils who are still receiving free school meals once the Universal Credit transition is complete would continue to receive protection until the end of their current phase of education.</p><p>Under our proposed net earnings threshold, we estimate that around 50,000 more children will become entitled to free school meals than at present, enabling us to target support towards a greater number of families on low incomes. It is right that we make sure that free school meals reach children from the most disadvantaged families, and we are consulting on this issue to make sure that this is the case.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 15/01/2018 17:47:56 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

427092

registered interest
date	09/11/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2015 to Question 13930, how many key stage one children receiving universal infant free school meals would not be eligible for such meals through a benefit-related claim.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	15407
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2015 answer text <p>This information is published in Table 3d of the National Tables in the statistical first release available at</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015</a>.</p><br /> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 18/11/2015 16:56:58 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

424552

registered interest
date	28/10/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13005, whether the decrease in the take-up of free school meals includes children now entitled to universal infant free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	13930
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2015 answer text <p>The figures provided in response to Question 13005 include all benefits-related claims for free school meals. The figures include infants for whom a claim for benefits-related free school meals has been made, but do not include other infants.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 05/11/2015 17:36:25 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

423296

registered interest
date	22/10/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2015 to Question 11372, how many local authorities have used her Department's eligibility checking system for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	13032
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2015 answer text <p>The department’s records indicate that all English local authorities have used the eligibility checking system for free school meals.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 30/10/2015 14:36:42 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

423298

registered interest
date	22/10/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2015 to Question 11372, how many additional children are now in receipt of free school meals since the changes made to her Department's eligibility checking system.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	13005
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2015 answer text <p>The eligibility checking system has been revised and updated on a number of occasions, for example to reflect that universal credit had been added to the list of entitling benefits in 2012. Since 2010, the number of pupils entitled to, and claiming for free school meals has decreased from 1,212,320 (16.2%) to 1,198,494 (15.1%) in 2015. We expect the proportion of children eligible for, and claiming free school meals to continue to decrease as the economy continues to improve.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 27/10/2015 17:34:02 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

420664

registered interest
date	12/10/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	11372
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2015 answer text <p>We are working to encourage all families who meet the current criteria toregisterfor free school meals.We want disadvantaged children to benefit from a nutritious meal, and also for their schools to receive additional funding through the pupil premium to help raise disadvantaged pupils' attainment.</p><br /><p>The Department for Education’s eligibility checking system, used by local authorities, has made it much easier and quicker to check anonymously which families are entitled to free school meals.</p><br /><p>The department has published a registration form to help schools to identify pupils who are entitled to free school meals and the pupil premium. This is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-and-pupil-premium-registration-form" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-and-pupil-premium-registration-form</a></p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 20/10/2015 08:28:39 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

420665

registered interest
date	12/10/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing automatic enrolment of children entitled to free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	11371
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2015 answer text <p>We want to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to check eligibility for free school meals (FSM). Under existing legislative arrangements, a claim for FSM must be made by or on behalf of a pupil and this forms part of the eligibility process. Officials are exploring options for making the process of registering pupils for FSM more efficient.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 20/10/2015 08:33:29 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson