Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"I beg to move,
That this House has considered eligibility criteria for free school meals.
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Robertson. There is nothing more grotesque than a Government who not only preside over thousands of children going hungry but who actively pursue policies …..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"It should come as no surprise to anyone that I agree with my hon. Friend completely; indeed, I will echo some of his comments later in my speech.
Let us just consider the Government’s abysmal record throughout covid. First, we had the ridiculously chaotic voucher scheme being contracted out to …..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"I thank my hon. Friend for the work he is doing on his Right to Food campaign, and all the work he does in his patch raising money for local food banks. He is right that there is another factor: means testing costs more. Universality is cheaper, and that is …..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"The Minister will be aware that lots of school food providers have said that, because of the cost of living crisis, nutritional standards are going to go down and they will have to substitute food for something else. What will he do about that?..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"Will the Minister give way?..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"The Minister is being generous in giving way. Does he not accept that eligibility has had to be extended repeatedly because there are more and more children in poverty? When are this Government going to get to grips with the root causes of the endemic poverty that children in this …..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
View all Emma Lewell (Lab - South Shields) contributions to the debate on: Free School Meals: Eligibility
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2022
Free School Meals: Eligibility
"The Minister is doing as I expected and listing some of the things the Government have done, but what about the 800,000 children who are missing out? There will be more of them as the year continues. What support is there for them? Clearly, the support at the moment is …..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 04 Jul 2022
Oral Answers to Questions
"A total of 800,000 children, more than 35,000 of whom live in the north-east, are in poverty and are being denied free school meals owing to punitive, Government-imposed eligibility criteria. Despite cross-party calls for eligibility to be extended to all families on universal credit, the Government have refused. Why?..."Emma Lewell - View Speech
View all Emma Lewell (Lab - South Shields) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Written Question
Monday 4th July 2022
Asked by:
Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that children from families in receipt of Universal Credit receive free school meals.
Answered by Will Quince
Under the benefits-related criteria the department provides a free healthy meal to around 1.9 million children, ensuring they are well nourished and can concentrate, learn and achieve. We also spend around £600 million per year ensuring around 1.25 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.
Schools fund benefit-related free school meals (FSM) from their core funding which they receive through the schools block of the dedicated schools grant and is derived from the national funding formula. For 2022-23, the funding schools attract through the 'FSM factor' in the national funding formula (NFF) is increasing to £470 per eligible pupil. The per meal rate for Universal Infant Free School Meals was increased in 2022-2023 to £2.41.
Under this government, eligibility has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century, including the introduction of universal infant free school meals and further education FSM. The department has permanently extended eligibility to children from all groups with no recourse to public funds.
The number of pupils eligible for FSM has been increasing since 2018, when we introduced new eligibility criteria for Universal Credit families that was estimated to increase the number of free school meal pupils by 2022. Alongside this, we also introduced generous protections that meant no child would lose their free school meal eligibility as a result of this criteria change and throughout the rollout of Universal Credit.
We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their FSM, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this:
- We provide an Eligibility Checking System (ECS) to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities.
- We have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals.
- We also provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including free school meals.
Written Question
Wednesday 29th June 2022
Asked by:
Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2022 to Question 18916 on Children: Asylum, if he will ask the Children's Commissioner to provide a written update on that issue; and if he will make it his policy to place a copy of the response in the Library of both Houses.
Answered by Will Quince
This is a matter for the Children’s Commissioner. Given her independence, the hon. Member for South Shields will need to contact her directly.