Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of rolling over any unspent funds on the cards of children entitled to free school meals, at the end of each week, so that they can be used the following week.

Free school meals (FSM) are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and our primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible children.

We trust school leaders to make the best decisions in the interests of their pupils and it is right that they have flexibility around how they deliver FSM.

We are, of course, very keen to ensure that all eligible children receive their full entitlement to FSM. We are also interested to hear about new and creative steps schools are taking to support eligible children. It is important that children are claiming their free lunch each day and that schools and colleges operating this system to avoid any risk of children building up significant cash reserves on their accounts or regularly spending their allowances at other times of the day without receiving a healthy lunch.

We would not wish to instruct schools to do any specific approach nationally. However, we will consider how we can share the very best practice around FSM.