Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children who have applied for free school meals in (a) Enfield North, (b) the Borough of Enfield and (c) London since the roll-out of universal credit in those areas; and if he will make a statement.

The information requested is not held centrally as we do not collect and publish data on the number of individual applications made for free school meals through schools or local authorities.

The department publishes data on the number and proportion of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals by local authority area and region.

The latest version, published in January 2018, is available at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/735777/Schools_Pupils_and_their_Characteristics_2018_LA_Tables.xlsx.