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Written Question
Free School Meals
Tuesday 25th October 2022

Asked by: Robert Goodwill (Conservative - Scarborough and Whitby)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the cost of (a) extending free school meals to all children with a parent or guardian who is in receipt of Universal Credit and (b) making free school meals universal.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department does not have plans to assess the cost of changing the current eligibility conditions for free school meals (FSM).

The department continues to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. The department will continue to keep FSM 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 from FSM while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of pupils are now provided with FSM.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 17 Dec 2018
Oral Answers to Questions

"11. What progress his Department has made on strengthening the social work profession. ..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 17 Dec 2018
Oral Answers to Questions

"The independent regulator will help to raise still further the already high standards of practice in social work. Does the Minister agree that social workers who achieve accreditation status should also earn the right to put some initials after their names—for example, ASW, standing for “accredited social worker”?..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 10 Sep 2018
Oral Answers to Questions

"On 31 August the Daily Mail ran a front-page story stating that a third of nurseries could shut because of school funding levels. Given that there are actually now more nurseries in other settings providing free childcare, does the Minister think it should apologise and issue a correction for gullibly …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 10 Sep 2018
Oral Answers to Questions

"Does the Secretary of State want to join me in congratulating North Yorkshire County Council children services department and its director, Stuart Carlton, on achieving the country’s first ever perfect score—outstanding in every area inspected by Ofsted? Furthermore, does he agree that that is very good news for the most …..."
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Speech in Written Statements - Wed 20 Dec 2017
Special Educational Needs and Disability

"In March 2017 the Government committed to introduce a two-year national trial to expand the powers of the first-tier tribunal (SEND) to make non-binding recommendations on the health and social care aspects of education, health and care (EHC) plans alongside the educational aspects.

I am pleased to announce the Special …..."
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 19 Dec 2017
Childcare for Fostered Children

"At the risk of being a spoiler, may I let the hon. Lady know that she will hear what she wants to hear when I make my speech?..."
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 19 Dec 2017
Childcare for Fostered Children

"Thank you, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) on securing this debate on the vital issue of ensuring that foster carers and families with small children have access to high-quality, affordable care. I expect there will be time for her to make some closing remarks …..."
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 19 Dec 2017
Childcare for Fostered Children

"We have already begun to engage with councils and The Fostering Network, and we will continue to do further work on the detail in January. We will involve fostering organisations and foster carers...."
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 19 Dec 2017
Childcare for Fostered Children

"I was just coming to that. We were planning to announce this in January, which would have given us a bit more time to do some of the preliminary work. The Secretary of State and I made the decision a couple of weeks ago that we should do this. We …..."
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