Primary Education: Free School Meals

(asked on 19th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing funding for universal free school meals for infants in the next Spending Review.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 27th October 2021

We spend around £600 million per year ensuring 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM) policy in 2014. All children in reception, year 1 and year 2 in England’s state-funded schools are entitled to receive a free meal. This is in addition to the 1.7 million children in receipt of benefits related free school meals.

The funding of UIFSM is allocated via a grant to schools, funded at a rate of £2.34 per meal. This grant was last increased for the 2020/21 academic year and covers the cost of raw materials as well as other fixed costs associated with providing the meals. It is for individual schools to decide how to allocate their budgets in order to provide these meals.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is currently experiencing a significant demand for its services as organisations start to recruit staff following lockdown, for example during September and October it saw an increase of over 20% in demand for standard and enhanced checks. However, the DBS continues to deliver its services in line with its Published Service Standards which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-1-disclosure-progress-information-disclosed-and-update-service-subscriptions. Despite increased demand largely driven by COVID-19 responses and the gig economy, particularly online shopping and food delivery, the DBS has consistently exceeded its operational targets.

The department holds regular meetings with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and other school food stakeholders, including the Local Authority Caterers Association, the representative body for school caterers, as well as food industry representatives covering a variety of issues.

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