Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 204 of the White Paper on Levelling up the United Kingdom, CP604, published on 2 February 2022, how much funding she plans to provide for food technology lessons in each of the next three years; what steps she is taking to support the Government's aim of all children leaving secondary school knowing at least six recipes to support healthy living; and if she will make a statement.

Government funding has been allocated to the Oak National Academy to create food and nutrition lesson content. Work is underway for this to be produced as part of their wider scheme of work in design, technology and food.

As part of this, Oak is developing support to ensure that all children are excited about cooking and experimenting with different foods and new ingredients in the classroom so that they leave school being able to cook six meals that will support healthy lifestyles. A design and technology subject expert has been appointed and Oak will begin to start their work on producing curriculum materials in the coming months.

By using an existing, established route for developing curriculum content, this will ensure coherence with the rest of the curriculum materials that Oak is developing, presenting support for schools and value for money for taxpayers.

In addition, as part of the Department’s wider support for food in schools, the Department is offering bursaries of £25,000 for design and technology teachers, including those teaching food.