Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer on 20 July 2020 to Question 74468 on Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes, what the source of funding was for Edenred's delivery of the School Food Voucher scheme.

The government has taken unprecedented and substantial action to ensure that children do not go hungry as we take measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak, including in relation to free school meals.

In the first instance, we asked schools to support eligible pupils at home by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. For circumstances where this was not possible, we also established a national voucher scheme to support schools and families while schools were closed to most pupils.

The cost of the vouchers issued to parents under the national voucher scheme and the COVID-19 Summer Food Fund were met by Her Majesty’s Treasury.