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1695337

registered interest
date	12/03/2024
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 March 2023 to Question 165185 on Free School Meals, what the complex data, systems, financial and legal implications are of a government-led rollout of automatic enrolment for all eligible children.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	18079
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2024 answer text <p>​​​As previously communicated, the department has looked at auto-enrolment and considers there to be merit in local authorities exploring initiatives to maximise take up and to better understand the barriers that prevent such take up, whilst also ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints, which still remain an important consideration. These include constraints around data-sharing, as well as the need for families to make a claim for free school meals to be eligible under the current process.</p><p> </p><p>The department continues to engage with key stakeholders in this area, noting the methods currently being trialled across a number of local authorities to increase and maximise take up.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 19/03/2024 16:40:02 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

1693943

registered interest
date	05/03/2024
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 March 2023 to Question 165185 on Free School Meals, whether any complex data, systems, financial and legal implications are still a barrier to the rollout of auto-enrolment.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	17089
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2024 answer text <p>Maximising the take up of free school meals is important in ensuring that as many eligible children as possible benefit from a healthy and nutritious meal. The department aims to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.</p><p>To support this, an Eligibility Checking System has been provided to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities.</p><p>The department has looked at auto-enrolment and considers there to be merit in local authorities exploring initiatives to maximise take up and to better understand the barriers that prevent such take up, whilst ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints, which still remains an important consideration.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 11/03/2024 12:12:32 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

1663147

registered interest
date	13/10/2023
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 14 June 2023 to Question 187978 on Free School Meals, how her Department reviews the eligibility conditions for Free School Meals to ensure that they support those that most need them.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	201001
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2023 answer text <p>The provision of free school meals to children from households who are on low income or out of work is important to the Government.</p><p>Over two million pupils are currently eligible for benefits based Free School Meals (FSM). Close to 1.3 million additional infants receive free and nutritious meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meals policy.</p><p>The Department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM, but will continue to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. The Department continues to work with other Government Departments to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and the impact on disadvantaged families.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 23/10/2023 16:21:56 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

1539492

registered interest
date	04/11/2022
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, with reference to the Social Mobility Pledge and PwC's report Building Relationships, Creating Value, published in October 2022, what assessment she has made of that report's findings on her review of free school meals eligibility; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	79273
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2022 answer text <p>The Department continues to monitor the consequences arising from the increasing cost of living and is working with other Government Departments in providing support. The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming free school meals (FSM). This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. With a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who need them most. In setting a threshold, the Government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 79274 question first answered 14/11/2022 14:29:17 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

1490606

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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 18 July 2022 to Question 35936 on Poverty: Children, whether the 9 million most disadvantaged pupils are (a) eligible for and (b) claiming a free school meal.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	39784
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2022 answer text <p>The number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM) is published in the National Statistics publication ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ 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>. The latest published statistics show that in January 2022, 1.9 million pupils were eligible for and claiming FSM.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 27/07/2022 16:30:10 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson