Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have been reached with a free breakfast as part of the National School Breakfast Programme so far in the academic year 2021-22.

The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs and we are investing up to £24 million to continue our national 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 better support their attainment and wellbeing.

The enrolment process is still underway for schools that wish to sign up to the programme. As of 22 December 2021, 1,245 schools had signed up and 847 schools had placed food orders. We will work with our supplier Family Action to monitor the data and consider suitable opportunities to share more information on the programme as it progresses, including in relation to the number of children and young people that are benefiting from the programme.