Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending eligibility for free school meals to undocumented children.

We are working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.

Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. Our current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups.

At present, data is not available regarding the take up of free school meals by no recourse to public funds groups during the temporary extension.