Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the viability of automatically enrolling children who are eligible on to the free school meal scheme.
The department wants to ensure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.
We continue to explore the options and delivery feasibility of introducing auto-enrolment functionality.  However, there are complex data, systems, and legal implications to such a change.