Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support families who have lost access to free school breakfasts; whether such breakfasts are provided elsewhere whilst schools are shut down; and if so, where.

Alongside our national approach to supporting pupils to continue to access free school meals, we are also committed to supporting schools and children who benefit from our breakfast club programme.

Our suppliers, Family Action along with Magic Breakfast, are in contact with schools on the programme, where possible, and are working closely with them to target the children most in need to continue to provide them with a healthy breakfast.

Schools on the programme can choose to support target children in the way which works best for them; this may include parents collecting food parcels from open schools or breakfast food ‘drop offs’ to target families. This should be arranged alongside the school’s wider support for children on free school meals, and schools must follow Public Health England’s advice on social distancing at all times.

Family Action have reported that more than 880 schools in disadvantaged areas are registered to receive breakfast deliveries from this programme during the coronavirus outbreak. These schools are located nationwide across England.