Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of children eligible for free school meals who are not registered to receive them; and what steps they are taking to encourage registration.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not routinely collect information on the proportion of pupils that would be entitled to a Free School Meal (FSM) but do not make a claim.
The department wants to ensure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their FSM, and to make it simple for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, the department provides an Eligibility Checking System to make processes as straightforward as possible. A model registration form has been developed to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM. In addition, the department provides guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers, so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will change the conditions on which Universal Infant Free School Meal grants are made to ensure that the grants are expended solely on improving the quality of school meals to meet their child obesity targets.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. To recognise the pressures facing schools, the Department announced an £18 million increase to the per-pupil funding rate for UIFSM to support with costs around food, transport and staff wages.
UIFSM helps to improve children’s education, boost their health and save parents around £400 a year. There are no plans to change the conditions in which these grants are made. The Department is continuing to review funding in order to ensure that schools continue to be able to provide healthy and nutritious meals in school. The funding for the free school meal (FSM) factor is increasing in line with the latest available GDP deflator forecast when the New Funding Formula (NFF) was published in July 2022.
Schools receive their provisional allocations for UIFSM in June based on the final allocation of the previous academic year. Schools receive a subsequent allocation of revenue funding in early summer, adjusted either up or down to reflect actual number of meals taken. This is calculated using an average taken from the October and January Censuses.
Local Authorities can decide whether they should top up the UIFSM allocation from their general maintenance and improvement budgets in the light of local circumstances, as they would do in any other year.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will revise school meal food standards to ensure that guidelines on children's recommended maximum daily sugar intake are displayed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The standards for school food are set out in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. The Regulations ensure that schools provide children with healthy food and drink options, and make sure that children receive the energy and nutrition they need across the school day. The Standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, those which are restricted, and those which must not be provided. Foods high in fat, salt and sugar, including high sugar foods and confectionery, are restricted.
The current standards provide a robust yet flexible framework to ensure that pupils in England continue to receive high-quality and nutritious food, that builds healthy eating habits for life.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the role of the designated senior lead on mental health in schools will cover child obesity.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
It will be for schools to decide whether to put a designated senior lead for mental health in place and what responsibilities they should cover. The Government is not introducing new responsibilities and is not planning to stipulate what the role should be.
The ‘Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Colleges’ survey published in 2017 suggested that around half of schools already have a mental health lead in place. The Government will provide all schools with the opportunity to train a lead in how to put in place a whole school approach to mental health. Given the links between obesity and both physical and mental health, whole school approaches can include activity to tackle obesity such as that set out by the Government in the attached document, ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action’.
The qualitative research accompanying the survey indicates that some schools already include both physical and mental health in such approaches, and make links to the teaching of personal, social, health and economic education. On 19 July, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched a consultation on proposals to make health education compulsory in schools. Under these proposals pupils will be taught about the benefits of a healthier lifestyle for both their physical and mental wellbeing. We expect that many schools will choose to make the teaching of health education part of a whole school approach to mental health overseen by a designated senior lead.
Asked by: Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking in schools to improve the mental health of children up to age 16.
Answered by Lord Nash
On the 16 June 2014 the Department for Education issued new non-statutory guidance for schools and teachers on pupil’s mental health and behaviour. This guidance gives information, guidance and practical tools on how to build resilience and support good mental health. It also helps school staff identify those pupils who may have emerging problems and provides guidance on appropriate routes of support. The guidance is published online:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2
In addition our special educational needs (SEN) reforms are set out in the 0-25 SEN and Disability Code of Practice which is currently before Parliament. This makes it clear that schools should look to identify any underlying mental health needs that pupils have. The Code emphasises the importance of staff development and provides a number of signposts to specific support. This includes further support for teachers and adults working with children and young people, which is available through www.minded.org.uk, a website funded by the Department of Health that helps adults identify and support children and young people’s mental health issues.