Free School Meals

(asked on 24th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions officials in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on raising the eligibility threshold for free school meals in the forthcoming Food Strategy White Paper; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 31st March 2022

The department continues to work closely with other departments across government in considering eligibility for free school meals (FSM). This has included working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to consider all the evidence and recommendations of the National Food Strategy. The Government Food Strategy White Paper will be published in due course.

As set out previously, eligibility for FSM has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century, including the introduction of universal infant FSM, and further education free meals.

The department is also permanently extending FSM eligibility to children from all groups with no recourse to public funds. This will come into effect for the start of the summer term.

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