Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the vouchers offered to children eligible for free school meals during school closures will include support to cover the costs of breakfast.

We have developed a national scheme to provide supermarket vouchers for children eligible for free school meals who are not attending school. Schools who chose to participate will not have to pay for these vouchers as the costs for this scheme will be picked up centrally by the Department for Education. Schools will have received an email as of Tuesday 31 March which will allow them to access the portal.

Schools are able to order a voucher to the value of £15 each week for every child eligible for benefits related free school meals who is not attending school. This is more generous than the weekly amount provided to schools for provision of free school meals, recognising that families will not buy in bulk and will therefore not be able to achieve the same economies of scale.

Alongside our national approach to supporting free school meal pupils, we are committed to supporting schools and children who also benefit from our breakfast club programme. Our suppliers, Family Action along with Magic Breakfast, are in contact with schools on the programme and, where possible, are working closely with them to reach children who would normally receive a healthy breakfast at school.

Full guidance on the national voucher scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.