Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.

The department does not currently have any plans to assess the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals (FSM). However, the department continues to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue and the department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with FSM.