Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of barriers to compliance with school food standards in school breakfast provision; and what steps they are taking as part of the free breakfast club rollout to ensure equitable access to nutritious breakfast for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to offering free breakfast clubs to all primary-aged pupils in England, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, so that all children have access to a healthy breakfast and a soft start to their school day. Food served at free breakfast clubs must meet the School Food Standards, and we have provided guidance to schools on healthy breakfast options.
Early adopter schools are already sharing examples of good practice to support consistent, high‑quality provision across the country.
Parents care deeply about the food their children eat, which is why we plan to overhaul the School Food Standards for the first time in over a decade. Developed alongside nutritionists and public health experts, the new standards will include dedicated breakfast standards, cutting high sugar items and increasing higher-fibre wholegrains.
We have launched a 9 week consultation on these changes and are committed to developing a robust enforcement system, which includes monitoring of compliance.
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Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by Magic Breakfast, Root causes of child morning hunger, published on 9 March, in particular the conclusions on the impact of morning hunger on pupils' readiness to learn, attainment and attendance in secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We appreciate publication of the report and will keep up the work with Magic Breakfast and other valued stakeholders as we continue to roll out the free breakfast club programme to all schools with primary-aged pupils across England.
The government is committed to tackling child poverty and delivering meaningful action to support children and families. We recognise the importance of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day for pupils and the impact this can have on attendance and readiness to learn. This is why we are rolling out free breakfast clubs, so that all children, regardless of background, can have the best start in life. Since April 2025, the programme has delivered 8.5 million meals to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We have also invested a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027, with over 500 of those now delivering.
We have also committed to continued funding of breakfast provision from September 2026 for secondary schools in disadvantaged areas which are currently participating in the National School Breakfast Programme.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to respond to the recommendations from the second module of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, including the recommendation on statutory child rights impact assessments.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government will consider the report’s findings and recommendations and will provide a full response to the report in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to ensure equity for children in households with no recourse to public funds in the expansion of eligibility for free school meals from September.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has permanently extended free school meal eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), provided they meet income thresholds set out in public guidance.
This ensures that children can access support regardless of their background or circumstances, including the immigration status of their parents.
The income thresholds for NRPF households were designed to account for the differences in household income between NRPF households and those with access to additional state support to ensure parity.
The government has set out plans to extend free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. We continue to keep all aspects of the free school meals system, including the guidance for families with no recourse to public funds, under review.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to their response to Memorandum on child poverty in the UK, published by the Council of Europe Commission for Human Rights on 25 February, whether they will publish (1) a children's rights impact assessment, and (2) a child-friendly version of the child poverty strategy; and if so, when they plan to publish those documents.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will publish a children’s rights impact assessment alongside a child‑friendly version of the strategy later this month.
Development of the UK Government’s Child Poverty Strategy was guided by a children’s rights approach throughout. This included actively engaging with children and young people, as well as organisations that represent them, ensuring their voices and lived experiences shaped policy development.
We are committed to continuing this approach as the strategy is implemented, by hearing directly from children and their families. This will ensure their experiences and feedback are considered when evaluating the strategy’s implementation and areas to improve delivery of the strategy are identified.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the links between child poverty and school absence due to ill health or other circumstances.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We know that disadvantaged pupils face barriers to engagement with education. A recent report from the Child Poverty Action Group found that more than 1 in 4 pupils aged 11 to 18 eligible for free school meals in the UK say they have missed school at least once because they did not have something they needed to attend. Absence data reinforces this with the rate of overall absence for pupils eligible for free school meals continuing to be almost twice that of pupils not eligible.
The government’s landmark decision to remove the two-child limit will lift almost half a million children out of poverty; this comes alongside our actions to tackle the cost of the school day, through expanding free school meals, cutting the cost of uniform and delivering free breakfast clubs in primary schools, which will all remove barriers to school attendance and attainment. Mental health support teams are also providing earlier support in school for young people.
Our real-time attendance data and toolkits for schools enable early identification of pupils at risk of persistent absence and include a self-assessment tool that explicitly asks schools how they track and respond to the absence of pupils entitled to free school meals. Schools can also use Pupil Premium funding to provide attendance support for disadvantaged students.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 November (HL11448), why the School Workforce Census does not report specialist teacher numbers for citizenship.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The school workforce census collects information on subject teachers in a large sample of state-funded secondary schools. Specialist teachers are identified by comparing the subject they teach with their qualifications.
For subjects such as citizenship, personal, social, health and economic education, careers and key skills, and general studies, qualifications are often broad and not specific to these subjects, making it difficult to determine whether a teacher is a specialist. As a result, the School workforce in England statistical release reports the total number of teachers and teaching hours for these subjects, rather than the number of teachers holding a relevant qualification. The report is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
Figures for the number of citizenship teachers and hours taught are reported here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/eed2fc61-5d0f-48c8-eae3-08de29d3af56.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many primary teachers they plan to train to teach citizenship as a statutory subject at Key Stages 1 and 2, and whether additional funded training routes are planned to meet that need.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report was published on 5 November 2025. In line with the Review’s recommendation, the government will look for the earliest opportunity to make citizenship a new statutory requirement for key stages 1 and 2, and ensure that the programme of study is tightly focused on the essential content pupils should know at primary and secondary. The secondary curriculum will both mirror and follow from this core content, encompassing the vital threads of government, law and democracy, climate education, financial and media literacy.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the recommendations in the Curriculum and Assessment Review published on 5 November, what steps they are taking to increase the number of specialist citizenship teachers in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report was published on 5 November 2025. In line with the Review’s recommendation, the government will look for the earliest opportunity to make citizenship a new statutory requirement for key stages 1 and 2, and ensure that the programme of study is tightly focused on the essential content pupils should know at primary and secondary. The secondary curriculum will both mirror and follow from this core content, encompassing the vital threads of government, law and democracy, climate education, financial and media literacy.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many teachers were funded and training as citizenship specialists in England in 2024–25, and whether they plan to increase that number.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is working with the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession across all subjects, including citizenship, and as a first step this government has increased teacher pay by almost 10% over two years.
Our Plan for Change is committed to recruiting 6,500 new teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this parliament to ensure sufficient teachers across all subjects. We are making good progress, with the workforce growing by 2,346 full-time equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, where it is needed most.
Whilst we do not hold data on the number of trainees for citizenship, recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding, such as the childcare grant, is available depending on individual circumstances.