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1717755

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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, if she will lower the threshold for free school meals qualification.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham East
tabling member printed	Nadia Whittome
uin	26015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2024 answer text <p>The department has extended free school meal (FSM) support several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. As a result, the greatest ever proportion of children are now receiving free lunches. Over one third of children are now eligible for FSM, compared to one in six in 2010.</p><p>However, a threshold must be set somewhere. The department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables children in low-income households to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the correct decision.</p><p>The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 16/05/2024 15:24:45 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4869 label Biography information for Nadia Whittome

1716169

registered interest
date	07/05/2024
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, what plans she has to uprate the income threshold for eligibility for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	24850
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>The department has extended free school meal (FSM) support several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. As a result, the greatest ever proportion of children are now receiving free lunches. Over one third of children are now eligible for FSM, compared to one in six in 2010.</p><p>However, a threshold must be set somewhere. The department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables children in low-income households to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the correct decision.</p><p> </p><p>The department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 13/05/2024 14:59:16 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1701806

registered interest
date	17/04/2024
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, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of children who are (a) eligible and (b) not registered for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	22377
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2024 answer text <p>The department publishes statistics annually which detail the number of pupils registered to receive free meals. The latest data shows that over 2 million pupils are registered for benefits-based free school meals (FSM), which is 23.8% of all pupils. Close to 1.3 million additional pupils benefit from universal infant free school meals. Taken together, over one third of pupils receive free school meals.</p><p> </p><p>The department does not collect data on the proportion of pupils that may be entitled to FSM but do not make a claim. Therefore, the department has not made a recent estimate on the number of children not registered for free school meals.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 25/04/2024 16:46:24 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

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