Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she takes to monitor the number of schools pupils that are malnourished.

The government supports the provision of nutritious food in schools. The Requirements for School Food Regulations (2014) require schools to provide children with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day. These regulations are accessible at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made.

The school food standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for all maintained schools, academies and free schools.

The department spends over a £1 billion a year on school food, including £600 million for universal infant free school meals (FSM). Under the benefits-based criteria, 2 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for, and claiming, a FSM. Almost 1.3 million additional infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the universal infant FSM policy in 2014. In addition, the school fruit and vegetables scheme provides over 2.2 million children in reception and key stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities collect data on child weight through the National Child Measurement Programme. The latest data from October 2023 shows that among reception children (aged 4-5 years), prevalence of underweight remained at 1.2% in 2022/23, which is higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019/20 (0.9%). In year 6 pupils (aged 10-11 years), underweight prevalence went up from 1.2% to 1.5%, but is similar to pre-pandemic levels in the 2019/20 data (1.4%). Although the increase in the proportion of underweight children is statistically significant, this is below the 2% level expected in a healthy population, and therefore does not raise concerns.