Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of new (a) kitchen and (b) other lunchtime staff who have been employed as a result of the roll-out of universal infant free school meals.

The Department for Education does not hold information on the number of new kitchen or lunchtime staff employed as a result of universal infant free school meals (UIFSM), or on the total number of schools that have acquired new kitchens and dining halls to provide UIFSM since September 2014.

The government has provided significant support for schools to improve kitchen and dining room facilities for their infant pupils. We have allocated £184.5 million capital funding in total specifically for this purpose, and an additional £32.5 million UIFSM funding to support small schools in improving their infant meal provision, which can be used to purchase equipment or fund minor capital works.