Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many participants in the National Citizen Service in each year since 2010 were entitled to Free School Meals at any point during their school years.
NCS is open to all 16-17 year olds. Since its inception, over 800,000 young people have participated in the programme.
NCS Trust does not hold data on parents’ or guardians’ education level nor on participants’ perception of socio-economic background. NCS Trustdoes not hold data that aligns with the school classification outlined.
However, the NCS Trust does report annually on the proportion of participants who are eligible for Free School Meals (capturing those who have been ‘eligible within the last 6 years’). The table below outlines the available figures.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Total NCS participants | 39,566 | 57,789 | 75,696 | 92,996 |
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| 23,467 | 95,549 |
Number of participants eligible for Free School Meals | 6,881 | 9,472 | 12,338 | 14,479 | 16,781 | 15,676 | 21,026 | 4,919 | 20,753 |
Percentage of participants eligible for Free School Meals | 17.39% | 16.39% | 16.30% | 15.57% | 16.92% | 15.67% | 22.84% | 20.96% |
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