Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund the free and subsidised milk schemes for schools through a multi-year guaranteed budget rather than through annual renewal.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) who request it. Overall, the department spent over £1.5 billion on FSM and free milk in 2023/24.
To assist with the cost of providing milk, schools can take part in the voluntary National School Milk Subsidy Scheme run by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In 2023/24, over £2 million was paid out through the National School Milk Subsidy Scheme.
Schools can claim reimbursement from the Nursery Milk Scheme in respect of their pupils aged under five. In 2023/24, the total cost of reimbursements for all settings from the Nursery Milk Scheme was over £54 million.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total annual spend on free and subsidised milk schemes for schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) who request it. Overall, the department spent over £1.5 billion on FSM and free milk in 2023/24.
To assist with the cost of providing milk, schools can take part in the voluntary National School Milk Subsidy Scheme run by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In 2023/24, over £2 million was paid out through the National School Milk Subsidy Scheme.
Schools can claim reimbursement from the Nursery Milk Scheme in respect of their pupils aged under five. In 2023/24, the total cost of reimbursements for all settings from the Nursery Milk Scheme was over £54 million.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of pupils who receive free school meals receive free milk daily.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Section 512ZB(3) of the Education Act 1996 relates to the provision of free milk. Milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for FSM who request it, we do not hold data on the number of children who make such requests. We expect schools to follow their statutory duty around the provision of free milk.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what arrangements are in place to monitor schools to ensure that they provide free milk to pupils who receive free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Section 512ZB(3) of the Education Act 1996 relates to the provision of free milk. Milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for FSM who request it, we do not hold data on the number of children who make such requests. We expect schools to follow their statutory duty around the provision of free milk.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - 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 have been displaced or are due to be displaced by (1) independent school closures, and (2) future independent school closures that have been announced, since July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
No assessment has been made of the number of children displaced, or expected to be displaced, due to independent school closures.
All children of compulsory school age are entitled to a state-funded school place if they need one. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring sufficient state school places. The department already works with local authorities to identify pressures and take action where necessary.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many independent schools have closed, or announced that they will close, since July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The register of independent schools, publicly available as part of the Get Information about Schools website, shows that 20 private schools, closed between 29 July 2024 and 11 April 2025. Schools are not required to notify the department of planned closures.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure families of students with special education needs are not charged additional fees as a result of changes to VAT on independent school fees.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and a requirement to attend a private school identified through an education, health and care (EHC) assessment are not impacted by the government’s VAT policy. Where a private school place is necessary to support a child with SEN, the local authority will fund it through an EHC plan. Local authorities can reclaim the cost of VAT added to fees for places that they fund through Section 33 of the VAT Act 1994.
Parents may make a choice that their child should attend a private school, but this is a choice like that made by any parent using the independent sector. Where parents have chosen to send their child to private school rather than a local authority deeming it necessary, VAT will apply to fees.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional cost of children who transfer into the state education system as a result of changes to business rates for private schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government’s impact note on the removal of eligibility of private schools for business rates charitable relief estimates an extremely limited impact from the business rates policy taking effect, with any movement estimated to represent 0.03% of the total state school pupil population in England. This impact note is attached and can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0129/ImpactNote.pdf.
Removing the eligibility for business rates charitable relief from private schools will raise approximately £140 million per year. Based on average per-pupil spending in England for the 2024/25 financial year, the government expects the revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector as a result of the business rates measure in England to steadily increase to a peak of around £20 million per annum after several years.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the 754 schools announced as early-adopters of the breakfast club scheme are currently offering breakfast club schemes, and in how many schools will this represent new provision.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The aim of the early adopter scheme is to test and learn what works in advance of national rollout on breakfast clubs to all primary schools. The schools taking part in the early adopter scheme were therefore selected to be broadly representative of the national picture. Across all primary schools, an estimated 22% have no breakfast club provision at all before school, and the remaining 78% have some provision, according to the 2022 School and College Panel. However, we know that provision is usually charged for or has limitations on the number of children who can attend. This figure will shortly be updated to reflect changes in provision since 2022.
Our new early adopter breakfast clubs are free, open to all pupils in the school, last at least 30 minutes and include food. This will save parents up to £450 per year, meaning more money in their pockets.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of pupils attending the 754 early-adopter schools of the breakfast club scheme who will participate in that scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Providing free, universal breakfast clubs will remove barriers to opportunity by ensuring that every primary school child, no matter their circumstance, is well prepared with a supportive start to the school day.
Parents and carers can choose to take up the offer, although we encourage schools to promote the offer and drive take-up, particularly within disadvantaged groups.
The early adopter scheme is an important test and learn phase which will inform the national rollout. Through the scheme, the department will monitor delivery and collect data, including on take-up, to build our evidence base.