Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Department has undertaken any recent research into the number of pupils eligible but not registered for free school meals in Dorset.

The latest research published on the number of pupils not claiming free school meals was published in December 2013 and shows the under-registration rate of pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM) is 11%. The full report is available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/266339/DFE-RR319.pdf.

In Dorset and Poole, the under-registration rates reported at 2013 are in the attached table.

Schools automatically receive Pupil Premium funding for each pupil registered as eligible for free school meals in the school census and for any pupil eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years. This year 1.99 million pupils, 27% of all pupils, aged 5-16 are eligible to receive Pupil Premium funding.

We do not publish statistics on the take up of Pupil Premium.

The department wants to make sure that as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this we provide:

• The Eligibility Checking Service to make the checking process as quick and simple as possible for schools and local authorities.
• A model registration form for paper-based applications.
• Guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisors and work coaches so they can make Universal Credit claimants aware that they might be entitled to free school meals.

We know that many schools and local authorities have established very effective ways to encourage all eligible families to register for free school meals.