Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government’s free breakfast club early adopter programme on children’s (a) welfare and (b) educational outcomes.

The government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children.

Breakfast clubs offer much more than just food, serving as a welcoming space for children, providing valuable opportunities for them to play, learn, and socialise at the beginning of the school day. This will set them up to be ready to learn and supports working parents, boosting household incomes.

Schools running breakfast clubs report improvements in behaviour, attendance, concentration and attainment, and a universal breakfast club offer has been found to be a less stigmatising way to reach those who need it the most.

We are working closely with our early adopter schools during the test and learn phase to understand how schools are delivering the new free clubs, pupil take-up and impact. We will publish findings from the test and learn phase in due course.