Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to introduce free school meals for all primary schoolchildren.

This government is committed to ensuring that children are well nourished and develop healthy eating habits that stay with them for the rest of their lives. Healthy eating not only supports children’s health but also has an important contribution to make in ensuring children are able to concentrate and learn in schools, and therefore achieve their potential in life.

Under the benefits-based criteria, around 1.3 million of the most disadvantaged children are eligible for and claiming free school meals. Benefits-related free meals were extended to disadvantaged further education students in September 2014. A further 1.4 million infants receive a free nutritious meal under the Universal Infant Free School Meals scheme.

We do not currently have plans to extend free school meals to all primary pupils. We believe in prioritising the policy so it is focused on children that are most in need. We will review the eligibility criteria for free school meals at the end of the roll-out of Universal Credit. We have increased access to free meals through the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals and Further Education Free Meals. Our amended free school meal criteria, introduced in April 2018 mean we expect more pupils to benefit from benefits-related free school meals in 2022, compared to the legacy system.