Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the National School Breakfast Programme on educational attainment.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country including the Department for Education’s opportunity areas to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the breakfast club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.
We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending. In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current annual cost to the public purse of the National School Breakfast Programme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country including the Department for Education’s opportunity areas to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the breakfast club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.
We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending. In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will make a decision on funding for the National School Breakfast Programme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country including the Department for Education’s opportunity areas to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the breakfast club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.
We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending. In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 30 April (HL Deb, col 857), why they have not introduced a statutory obligation to conduct a child rights impact assessment for all law and policy decisions relating to children, as recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2016.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government remains fully committed to children’s rights and ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (UNCRC). It is important for all children – regardless of race, religion or abilities – to have equal civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
In Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1093, dated 20 November 2018, my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State reaffirmed the UK government’s commitment to the UNCRC. He also said he would give due consideration to the UNCRC when making new policy and legislation. This statement can be found in the following link and it is also attached: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-11-20/HCWS1093/.
To this end, we have launched a ‘Child’s Rights Impact Assessment’ (CRIA) template, which can be found in the following link and is also attached: http://clientarea.skillset.co.uk/DfE/Childrens%20Rights_v0.3%20-%20Storyline%20output/story_content/external_files/CRIA%20template.pdf,and accompanying training for civil servants across Whitehall. We are also working with children’s rights experts to effectively promote the training and the CRIA template.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will estimate the earnings of self-employed people for the purposes of calculating entitlement to free school meals.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We will assess the earnings of self-employed people based on their net earned income over a period of up to three months. Where families’ actual annualised net earned income is below the £7,400 annual threshold, their children will be eligible for free school meals. We have issued guidance to local authorities and schools to clarify this point.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the annual cost of extending free school meals to all children in families on Universal Credit over and above that of the proposed income threshold scheme, broken down by costs for (1) free school meals, and (2) the pupil premium.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We estimate that providing free school meals (FSM) to all children from households receiving Universal Credit would result in around half of all pupils becoming eligible for FSM. This would be over three times as many as the 1.1 million (14%) that are currently eligible for and claiming FSM in the latest figures. We estimate that this would cost in excess of £3 billion more a year, including the cost of the extra meals and associated school deprivation funding, such as the pupil premium. The additional meal costs alone would be in excess of £450 million per year.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the administrative costs associated with the proposed income threshold for assessing eligibility for free school meals; and what is their estimate of the administrative cost if entitlement were extended to all children in families on Universal Credit.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We have updated our electronic Eligibility Checking System to ensure that these changes do not increase the administrative burden on schools and local authorities. They can continue to check eligibility through this system as before.
We have not made any estimates of the administrative cost to schools and local authorities if entitlement was extended to all children from families receiving Universal Credit (UC). It was never our intention that eligibility should be extended to all children in families on UC and if it was, this would involve a significant increase in the cost to the taxpayer.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the net reduction in eligibility for free school meals in England following the implementation and roll out of universal credit.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Under our new criteria for how free school meals eligibility will operate under Universal Credit, there will be no net reduction in eligibility for free school meals. The department has estimated that, by 2022, around 50,000 more children will benefit from a free school meal compared to the previous benefits system.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 19 September (HL1491), when they anticipate a suitable legislative opportunity will arise to put the guidance on school uniform policies on a statutory footing.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We intend to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable legislative opportunity arises. No education bill was announced in the most recent Queen’s speech, which set out the proposed legislative programme for this session of Parliament. We therefore anticipate that the next opportunity to consider a suitable slot for this measure will be in the second session of this Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they propose to put guidance on school uniform supply on a statutory basis as set out in the HM Treasury 2015 report A Better Deal.
Answered by Lord Nash
Decisions on school uniform, including how this is sourced, are made by the governing body (or academy trust) of the school, but our existing guidance is clear that, when setting their uniform policies, schools should keep costs to a minimum and ensure the uniform is affordable for everyone.
The guidance also reminds schools of their obligation under Human Rights and Equalities legislation, as well as highlighting the legal requirement for schools to have a complaints process in place. Parents who have concerns about a school’s uniform policy can use this process to raise these with the school. If parents continue to have concerns, they can raise these with the Department.
We intend to put this guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable legislative opportunity arises.