Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2022 to Question 35936 on Poverty: Children, whether the 9 million most disadvantaged pupils are (a) eligible for and (b) claiming a free school meal.

The number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM) is published in the National Statistics publication ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. The latest published statistics show that in January 2022, 1.9 million pupils were eligible for and claiming FSM.