Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to ensure food vouchers are available for asylum-seeking children during school holidays.

Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute are eligible for support under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum 1999 Act. The support provided usually consists of accommodation (with utility bills and council tax paid) and a weekly allowance to meet other essential living needs.

Asylum seekers with children also have access to free schooling, including free school meals (FSM).

Whilst FSM is not available to pupils outside of term time, pupils who are eligible for FSM are also entitled to a place on their Local Authority’s Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities over the main holiday periods.