Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary school children were eligible for free schools meals in (a) 2009-2010, (b) 2013-2014 and (c) 2017-2018.

For 2010, the number and percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals are 717,060 and 17.3%, respectively.

For 2014, the number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals are 755,485 and 17.0%, respectively.

For 2017, the number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals are 666,708 and 14.1%, respectively.

The ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2018’ statistical release will be released in June 2018, (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018).