Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance he provides to schools in England on allocating pupil premium funding to the provision of free breakfasts.

??Schools are allocated around £2.4 billion each year through the pupil premium to improve outcomes for their disadvantaged pupils. School leaders have the freedom to use the grant in a way that best meets the needs of their school and its pupils and are encouraged to make evidenced based decisions, drawing on information from the Education Endowment Foundation, in particular the recently published Pupil Premium Guide, available here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Pupil_Premium_Guidance_iPDF.pdf.

The guide recommends that, as well as focusing on developing high-quality teaching and targeted academic programmes, schools should invest their pupil premium in wider strategies that support pupils’ readiness to learn - this may include providing a breakfast meal.

In addition, the Department is investing up to £35 million into the National School Breakfast Programme between 2018 and 2021, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This includes our recent announcement that the programme will be extended by a further year until March 2021, with an aim of helping to establish or improving up to 650 more clubs, further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-meals-and-summer-holiday-activities-for-children.

Overall, this money will help to establish or improve breakfast clubs in up to 2,450 schools in disadvantaged areas.