Universal Credit: Free School Meals

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Baroness Goudie

Thursday 21st February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

I heartily agree with the noble Lord. It is an extraordinary conundrum that you pay just as much in a supermarket for that thin stuff with the red top as for full-fat milk.

[Baroness Goudie (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister seems to forget that children are the future of this country. He hides behind the statistics. We should give free school meals to many more children than at present and help children to get those meals at a much younger age, perhaps even when they are nursery. If they are not fed properly now, they will not become healthy adults.

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, I can only come back to my earlier answers. Over the past eight years we have dramatically increased the number of children benefiting from free school meals, and are now spending £600 million to ensure that infant free school meals are widely available. That has a take-up of more than 86%.