Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the maximum income threshold for free school meals eligibility for children in families with no recourse to public funds in line with the eligibility criteria introduced on 4 June 2025.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
Children from households with no recourse to public funds can receive FSM, subject to meeting income criteria set by the department in our published guidance.
The department does not hold exact figures for FSM-eligible children from households with no recourse to public funds. In total, 2.2 million school pupils are eligible to receive FSM on the basis of low income. This figure includes children who are eligible under the criteria for households with no recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in families subject to no recourse to public funds provisions have received the concession on access to free school meals introduced in 2022; and what the breakdown is of those figures by (a) region and (b) year since 2022.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
Children from households with no recourse to public funds can receive FSM, subject to meeting income criteria set by the department in our published guidance.
The department does not hold exact figures for FSM-eligible children from households with no recourse to public funds. In total, 2.2 million school pupils are eligible to receive FSM on the basis of low income. This figure includes children who are eligible under the criteria for households with no recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of children in families subject to no recourse to public funds provisions that have received the families receiving additional support (FRAS) entitlement for eligible 2-year-olds in each of the last five years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Families in receipt of additional forms of support to children in ‘no recourse to public fund’ households have been eligible for the 15-hours entitlement since September 2022.
The early years census data collects data on the number of children taking up the entitlement for families in receipt of additional forms of support, however, the department is unable to break this down by immigration status.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she had made of the potential barriers to opportunity for adopted (a) children and (b) young people; and what steps her Department has taken to help tackle these in the last year.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department recognises that many adopted children have experienced trauma and neglect. As part of the government’s Plan for Change, we are working to remove barriers to opportunity for all children, including those who are adopted.
To support adopted children in school, we are prioritising their access to school admissions, providing Pupil Premium Plus funding, and ensuring support from designated teachers and virtual school heads.
This year, we have allocated £50 million to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to provide essential therapeutic services for eligible children. Additionally, we have invested £8.8 million in Adoption England to improve adoption practices. This includes expanding multi-disciplinary teams to offer specialist support, introducing a new early support framework called ‘Becoming a family’ for the first 12 to 18 months of placement, and implementing an Adoption Support Plan to assess and guide families’ support needs.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered updating the Statutory Guidance on Adoption, published on 18 July 2013.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department keeps all statutory guidance under regular review, including that relating to adoption, and considers updates where required.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of prospective adopters; and what steps her Department is taking to increase this.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government inherited a situation marked by a growing disparity between the number of children awaiting adoptive families and the number of approved adopters. In 2024/25, Adoption England launched a national recruitment campaign funded by the government, which led to a modest increase in approved adopters to 2,230, which is a rise of 0.5% from the previous year. We acknowledge that further efforts are needed to close the adopter sufficiency gap. That is why, this year, we have doubled the funding allocated to Adoption England for adopter recruitment, increasing it to £1 million.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the findings of the Coram quarterly data reports on adoption and special guardianship, published in March 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby
Coram’s quarterly statistics on adoption and special guardianship orders provide a critical insight into how well local services are performing. The department regularly takes stock of where improvements are needed and works closely with Adoption England and kinship organisations such as Family Rights Group and Kinship to review policy priorities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of adoption disruptions in the last year; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce these.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for York Central to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 37457.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an Adoptee Reference Group to provide guidance to the Department on adoption policy.
Answered by Janet Daby
I regularly meet with representatives from the adoption sector including Adoption England, Adoption UK and Coram amongst others to discuss a range of issues. I hosted an adoption roundtable sector meeting on 21 May with a number of key representatives to discuss some of the challenges within adoption and I am committed to hosting similar meetings in the future.
The department already has a well-established Adopter Reference Group which meets regularly and acts as an important sounding board on adoption policy. I was pleased to meet with them on 6 May this year.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Independent - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she will place in the Library a copy of the Equalities Impact Assessment.
Answered by Janet Daby
The equalities impact assessment for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses shortly.