Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to schools to tackle child hunger.

The Department spends over £1 billion on free, nutritious meals for disadvantaged children in school. The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming free school meals (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, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.

In addition to this, the Department is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs. We are investing up to £24 million to continue the national programme until the end of the summer term in 2023. This funding will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.

The Department is investing over £200 million in the Holiday Activities and Food programme over the next three years, providing disadvantaged children and families with access to healthy food and enriching activities during the longer school holidays.