Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment on the adequacy of free school meals funding in the context of the increases in the cost of food.

The Department recognises the cost pressures that some schools and suppliers may be facing. The Department is holding regular meetings with other Government Departments and with food industry representatives, covering a variety of issues including public sector food supplies.

Following the Autumn Statement 2022, schools will receive an additional £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. The core schools’ budget, which covers schools’ day to day running costs, including schools’ energy bills and the costs of providing income related free school meals (FSM), has risen from £49.8 billion in 2021/22 to £53.8 billion in 2022/23 and will continue to rise to £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25. By 2024/25, funding per pupil will have risen to its highest ever level in real terms. These increases provide support to schools to deal with the impact of inflation on their budgets.

The Department is continuing to review funding to ensure that schools continue to be able to provide healthy and nutritious meals in schools. The funding for the FSM factor is increasing for 2023/24, in line with the latest available Gross Domestic Product deflator forecast when the National Funding Formula was published in July 2022.

Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. In the 2023/24 academic year, the funding rate is increasing from £2.41 to £2.53. Further details on the UIFSM 2023/24 grant are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-2023-to-2024/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-conditions-of-grant-2023-to-2024.