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 Statement by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 5 June (HLWS681), what plans they have, if any, to increase the household maximum income thresholds for free school meal eligibility for children with no recourse to public funds conditions.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
The department has permanently extended FSM eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), subject to maximum income thresholds.
In addition, families with NRPF may also be eligible to access the Healthy Start scheme, details of which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/healthy-start.
As with all programmes, we will continue to keep eligibility for FSM, including for families with NRPF, under review.
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 Statement by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 5 June (HLWS681), whether the Holiday Food and Activities Programme will be made available to the expanded group of children who will be eligible for means-tested free school meals from September 2026.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
I refer my noble Friend to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57800.
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 from Baroness Smith of Malvern on 20 May (HL7185), whether they will now answer the question put; namely what estimate they have made of the number of children who will lose their entitlement to free school meals following the ending of phase one of the transitional protection for those migrating to Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Transitional protections have been in place since 2018 to ensure no one who gained free school meal (FSM) eligibility would lose it while Universal Credit was rolled out. We are clear that no pupil with transitional protections will lose their entitlement to FSM before the new entitlement is introduced, which will mean that children that need it most, from families receiving Universal Credit, will continue to receive a free meal. Following our expansion of eligibility from September 2026, it is our intention to end all protections.
We estimate that over half a million more children will benefit from a free meal, taking into account the impact of ending transitional protections. Full details of this estimate is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/estimate-of-additional-children-claiming-free-school-meals-following-expansion-of-eligibility/2025.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the problems affecting poorer students in accessing A level computer science, as identified by Teach First on 8 May.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter their background. However, the department knows that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to face barriers which hold them back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve.
Whilst it is ultimately for individual schools to decide which courses to offer their students, the best way of supporting schools to offer A level computer science, including those in deprived areas, is to ensure high-quality computing teaching by helping schools to recruit and retain good teachers.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. This will support the recruitment and retention of specialist computing teachers in the schools and areas that need them most. There are also bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £31,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach computing.
In the 2024/25 academic year, there were 496 new postgraduate entrants to computing initial teacher training (ITT), a 21% increase on the number of entrants in the 2023/24 academic year (411). The number of postgraduate entrants in 2024/25 was broadly in line with the average across the last ten years.
As of April 2025, we are seeing positive recruitment trends regarding postgraduate ITT recruitment in computing. So far, there have been more candidate submissions (+10%), offers (+42%) and acceptances (+47%) compared to the same point in the previous recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish (1) an updated impact assessment for the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that includes specific assessment of Clause 22, and (2) an equality impact assessment for the whole of the Children's Wellbeing and School Bill, including Clause 22.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is committed to supporting children in care and care leavers through the introduction of corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies. The measures will require Secretaries of State and relevant public bodies to be alert to matters which might adversely affect the wellbeing of children in care and care leavers.
The impact of all of the measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill on business, equalities and human rights has been evaluated and is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.
We will continue to review and update these documents, when the Bill has completed its passage through the House of Lords.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of extending free school meals to all children of families in receipt of Universal Credit; and what assessment they have made of the current real value of the income eligibility limit, set in 2018, of £7,400.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The continued provision of school food has an important role to play in breaking the unfair link between background and opportunity, which is why the department is considering the government’s school food offer as part of our work on child poverty.
The transitional protections policy on free school meals (FSM), put in place in 2018 during the roll out of Universal Credit (UC), ensures that households in receipt of FSM will retain their entitlement during UC migration.
Support for children to access FSM has additionally been considered as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce’s consideration of how to:
As with all government programmes, the department will keep the approach to FSM under continued review.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of children who will lose their entitlement to free school meals following the ending of phase one of the transitional protection for those migrating to Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The continued provision of school food has an important role to play in breaking the unfair link between background and opportunity, which is why the department is considering the government’s school food offer as part of our work on child poverty.
The transitional protections policy on free school meals (FSM), put in place in 2018 during the roll out of Universal Credit (UC), ensures that households in receipt of FSM will retain their entitlement during UC migration.
Support for children to access FSM has additionally been considered as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce’s consideration of how to:
As with all government programmes, the department will keep the approach to FSM under continued review.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many child's rights impact assessments they (1) prepared, and (2) published, in each year from 1 April 2018, broken down by department.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department does not collect information on the number of Child’s Rights Impact Assessments that have been prepared or published.
The department co-produced, with civil society, a Child’s Rights Impact Assessment template with guidance that has been shared with other departments.
We encourage the completion of assessments to ensure policy and legislation does not adversely affect children’s rights and wellbeing. Departments individually determine the use and publication of any assessment.
The department has conducted Child’s Rights Impact Assessments for all measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, analysing the impact on children of the policies and where particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others. These documents are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 27 January (HL Deb col 9), when they will publish the child's rights impact assessments for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Child’s Rights Impact Assessment was published on 17 March 2025. This is attached and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d7dd3ded6ca9014ba2a28e/Children_s_Wellbeing_and_Schools_Bill_child_s_rights_impact_assessment.pdf.
This assessment examines where children are directly impacted by the policies, and/or where there are particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of children who will be lifted out of (1) poverty, and (2) deep poverty, as a result of free school breakfast clubs.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s opportunity mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. It will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care systems so that every child can achieve and thrive.
We are taking action to break the unfair link between background and success by rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school which will offer all children, regardless of their background, a settled start to the day, improving their attendance, behaviour and attainment. It will also help with the costs of living and mean many more pupils are fed and ready to learn at the start to the school day. This will be of particular benefit to the most disadvantaged families.
By providing parents with a free half hour breakfast club each morning, the department estimates this will save parents up to £450 a year in paid for before-school childcare. Being able to drop children off at school earlier may also offer parents greater opportunities in terms of the timing, nature, and location of employed roles open to them.