Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of children receiving free school meals who are entitled to them.

We recognise the benefits of providing a healthy school meal to the most disadvantaged children and we want to make sure that as many eligible children as possible are claiming their free school meals.

Schools and local authorities have worked hard in recent years to encourage eligible families to register for free school meals, and we provide schools with a model registration form and guidance. We will continue to look at the most effective practice and to share this with schools and local authorities.