National School Breakfast Programme

(asked on 10th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of scaling-up the National School Breakfast Programme to support all eligible schools with over 50% of students in IDACI bands A-F.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 22nd February 2022

The government is committed to continuing its support for the national school breakfast club programme. It is investing up to £24 million to continue the programme until July 2023. This funding will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to assist their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to be taught.

The enrolment process is still underway for schools wishing to sign up to the programme. As of 22 December 2021, 1,245 schools signed up, and 847 schools placed food orders. The department continues to work with its supplier, Family Action, to monitor the data and consider suitable opportunities to share more information on the programme as it progresses.

The programme is open to all schools that have 40% or more pupils in bands A-F of the income deprivation affecting children index. This includes state-funded primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units. Further information is available on the Family Action website, which is accessible here: https://www.family-action.org.uk/what-we-do/children-families/breakfast/.

The government is supportive of providing free school breakfasts, and of the positive contributions these can make to better children’s wellbeing and learning. Further information on the national school breakfast club programme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/breakfast-clubs-programme-2021-2023.

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