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 levels of demand in schools for free school meals.

Under existing programmes, the department provides free school meals (FSM) to around 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils in schools, just under 1.3 million infants through Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), and over 90,000 low-income students in further education (FE). More than £1.5 billion is allocated in support of these programmes.

Schools are funded for benefits-related FSM at £490 per eligible pupil per year as a factor value within the national funding formula. Total funding driven by the FSM factor in 2024/25 is £917 million.

UIFSM and FE free meals are funded through a direct grant to schools and colleges. The current per meal rate is £2.53 in the 2024/25 academic year. Final funding rates for UIFSM in 2024/25 will be confirmed in due course.

As with all government programmes the department will keep its approach to FSM, including levels of demand and funding to deliver this, under continued review.