Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing child benefit to cover the cost of free school meals.

The Government is committed to managing the public finances in a responsible way by targeting support where it is most needed. Child Benefit is not one of the qualifying benefits for Free School Meals. As individuals with an income of up to £60,000 are entitled to Child Benefit, many claimants will not have children who are eligible for Free School Meals and increasing Child Benefit to support this cohort would be poorly targeted. From April 2021 Child Benefit will increase in line with CPI (0.5 percent) to ensure that it retains its value. We will continue to review levels of Child Benefit alongside other benefits annually through the uprating process.

Schools have continued to receive their core funding in full, including for free school meals, during the national lockdown. In addition to this, we are providing extra funding to support schools to work with their school catering team or food provider to supply food parcels or meals to eligible pupils learning at home. Schools can alternatively claim funding to provide local vouchers worth £15 per child per week, giving families the flexibility to use these where it is most convenient for them and on healthy, nutritious items of their choice.  Where schools cannot offer food parcels or use local solutions, a national voucher scheme is in place to ensure that every eligible child can access free school meals.