Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional resources they will provide to combat hunger during school holiday periods.
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.
Through the Spending Review, the department has announced funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time, supporting our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
The Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme for local authorities to provide discretionary support to vulnerable households in the most need. The department is providing £742 million in England to extend the HSF by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will enable local authorities to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food, and develop their schemes to help prevent poverty locally and build local resilience.
The government also remains committed to the Holiday Activities and Food programme to ensure children who are eligible for free school meals can access enriching activities and healthy meals during school holidays. More than £200 million has been allocated to the programme from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional funding they are providing to ensure that funding for the provision of free school meals rises in line with the cost of living and food prices.
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.
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. This decisive action will support parents and improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
We have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multiyear spending review period to cover additional meal costs. This is new money, as opposed to funding within existing school budgets.
Making all children in households claiming Universal Credit eligible for FSM makes it straightforward for parents to know whether they are eligible. We are supporting this by taking forward a programme of work including improvements to our own systems that will make applying for FSM easier than it’s ever been.
This includes improvements to the Eligibility Checking System to allow parents and schools to check their own eligibility for FSM independently from their local authorities. We are also working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore legal gateways that could enable data sharing to improve local authorities’ ability to undertake local action to improve the targeting and delivery of FSM.
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 encourage eligible families to apply for 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.
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. This decisive action will support parents and improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
We have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multiyear spending review period to cover additional meal costs. This is new money, as opposed to funding within existing school budgets.
Making all children in households claiming Universal Credit eligible for FSM makes it straightforward for parents to know whether they are eligible. We are supporting this by taking forward a programme of work including improvements to our own systems that will make applying for FSM easier than it’s ever been.
This includes improvements to the Eligibility Checking System to allow parents and schools to check their own eligibility for FSM independently from their local authorities. We are also working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore legal gateways that could enable data sharing to improve local authorities’ ability to undertake local action to improve the targeting and delivery of FSM.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to simplify the process of applying for 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.
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. This decisive action will support parents and improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
We have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multiyear spending review period to cover additional meal costs. This is new money, as opposed to funding within existing school budgets.
Making all children in households claiming Universal Credit eligible for FSM makes it straightforward for parents to know whether they are eligible. We are supporting this by taking forward a programme of work including improvements to our own systems that will make applying for FSM easier than it’s ever been.
This includes improvements to the Eligibility Checking System to allow parents and schools to check their own eligibility for FSM independently from their local authorities. We are also working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore legal gateways that could enable data sharing to improve local authorities’ ability to undertake local action to improve the targeting and delivery of FSM.
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 improve the nutritional quality of 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.
To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, the department is acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the School Food Standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the total number of EU students enrolled at UK universities (1) 2014–15 and (2) 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
In the 2014/15 academic year, across all levels and modes of study, 127,135 higher education (HE) student enrolments had an EU permanent address immediately prior to study in a UK HE provider.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency has not yet published data on the UK HE sector relating to the 2024/25 academic year, therefore information relating to enrolments in 2024/25 is not currently held by the department.
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 average annual fees paid by EU students for university education in 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students in UK HE providers.
HESA has not yet published data on the UK HE sector relating to the 2024/25 academic year, therefore information relating to tuition fees in 2024/25 is not currently held by the department.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether milk will be provided to pupils who attend breakfast clubs at schools participating in the free breakfast club 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.
Milk is an excellent food for children’s growth and development, which is why the department includes milk within its healthy breakfast examples for the newly launched early adopter breakfast clubs.
The school food standards require lower fat or lactose reduced milk to be available to children who want it during school hours, which includes any time during a school session or a break between sessions. Section 512ZB (3) of the Education Act 1996 sets out the requirement that milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals.
Any milk provided during breakfast clubs does not substitute for current provision of free or subsidised mid-morning milk, as breakfast clubs take place before the start of the school day.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether provision of milk as part of the free breakfast club scheme will substitute for current provision of free or subsidised mid-morning milk.
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 is an excellent food for children’s growth and development, which is why the department includes milk within its healthy breakfast examples for the newly launched early adopter breakfast clubs.
The school food standards require lower fat or lactose reduced milk to be available to children who want it during school hours, which includes any time during a school session or a break between sessions. Section 512ZB (3) of the Education Act 1996 sets out the requirement that milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals.
Any milk provided during breakfast clubs does not substitute for current provision of free or subsidised mid-morning milk, as breakfast clubs take place before the start of the school day.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the projected saving per pupil as a result of the proposed changes to school uniform requirements under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
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.
Too many families still tell the government that the cost of school uniform remains a financial burden. That is why we are legislating to limit the number of expensive branded items of uniform and physical education kit that schools can require.
Based on previous department surveys of parents, we estimate that the aggregate savings of the new limit on compulsory branded items to parents with children in primary school is around £21 million per year, and for those with children in secondary school is around £52 million per year. We estimate that some families will save over £50 per child on the back to school shop.