Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Treasury new story of 5 April 2018, Soft Drinks Industry Levy comes into effect, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy on the number of children starting the day with a healthy breakfast.

The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick-start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country – including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas – to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.

A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the Breakfast Club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria.

We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending.

In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme. The contract for the National Schools Breakfast Programme required the contractor Family Action to provide breakfast provision to at least 1,500 schools across England. This has now been surpassed by Family Action and Magic Breakfast by who have recruited more than 1,700 schools.

Decisions about any funding beyond March 2020 will be taken as part of the upcoming Spending Review.