Universal Credit: Free School Meals Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Addington
Main Page: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)Department Debates - View all Lord Addington's debates with the Department for Education
(5 years, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, it might be worth pointing out this week’s ONS statistics, which show a rather more positive figure on employment: 32.6 million people in this country are now employed. That is 167,000 more than between July and September 2018, and 440,000 more than a year ago. We take child poverty very seriously. We also encourage schools, through the use of the pupil premium, to encourage additional recruitment to the programme.
My Lords, does the Minister agree with the general agreement that a good diet improves performance at school? Taking that on board, would not an Education Minister encourage his colleagues to make sure that more children got free school meals, not fewer?