Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in Fylde constituency are expected to become newly eligible for free school meals as a result of the expansion to households receiving Universal Credit.

From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, all children in households receiving Universal Credit attending state-funded schools in England are eligible for free school meals. We anticipate that over half a million additional pupils nationally will become eligible as a result of this expansion, which is expected to lift around 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. Eligibility will depend on household circumstances and the number of families in receipt of Universal Credit whose children were not previously entitled to free school meals.