Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost of the software that would be required to introduce an automatic registration system for income-related free school meals.

An assessment has not been made of the specific costs of any software for automatic registration because there are also complex data, systems, and legal implications to such a change. The department continues to explore the delivery feasibility of improving existing systems including the development of auto-enrolment functionality.