Universal Credit: Free School Meals Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Education
Lord Hamilton of Epsom
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Universal Credit: Free School Meals
Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts(5 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Agnew of Oulton
My Lords, I can only come back to my earlier answers. Over the past eight years we have dramatically increased the number of children benefiting from free school meals, and are now spending £600 million to ensure that infant free school meals are widely available. That has a take-up of more than 86%.
Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend have the faintest idea where the statistic from the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, comes from; that is, that 5 million young people are living in poverty?
Lord Agnew of Oulton
Unfortunately I cannot answer that question. I think that the Children’s Society has come up with a number which again was without true validity. I do not think that that helps the debate.