Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's response to the consultation, Eligibility for free school meals, the early years pupil education entitlement for two-year-olds under universal credit, for what reasons the responses from supporters of the Children’s Society were excluded from the overall data analysis; and if he will make a statement.

The department ran an eight-week consultation from 16 November 2017 to 11 January 2018. Officials analysed all responses received, including those received through campaigns.

We received 8,421 emails as part of the Children’s Society campaign, which asked people to share the Children’s Society’s response to our consultation. These responses have not been included in the data analysis, as they were not received through our formal consultation site. They were, however, clearly referenced in the government’s response to the consultation, and considered in formulating our response. Where copies of the Children's Society's response were received through the formal consultation site, these were included in our data analysis figures.

For further breakdowns, please see a link to our consultation response: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681210/Government_response_FSM_and_EY_entitlements_under_Universal_Credit.pdf.