Free School Meals: North East

(asked on 24th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the estimate by the Child Poverty Action Group, North East Child Poverty Commission and Children North East that one in four children living in poverty in the North East do not qualify for means-tested free school meals under the current eligibility criteria; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 31st March 2022

The department continues to work closely with other departments across government in considering eligibility for free school meals (FSM). This has included working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to consider all the evidence and recommendations of the National Food Strategy. The Government Food Strategy White Paper will be published in due course.

As set out previously, eligibility for FSM has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century, including the introduction of universal infant FSM, and further education free meals.

The department is also permanently extending FSM eligibility to children from all groups with no recourse to public funds. This will come into effect for the start of the summer term.

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