Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many codes requested by schools to Edenred to generate e-gift cards for the fortnight commencing 20 April 2020 have not been issued.

During this period, we are asking schools to support pupils eligible for benefits-related free school meals by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. However, we recognise that providing meals and food parcels is not a practicable option for all schools. That is why on 31 March we launched a national voucher scheme as an alternative option, with costs covered by the department.

Voucher codes are being processed and many thousands of families are redeeming them. As of Tuesday 12 May, our supplier, Edenred, reported that over £70 million worth of voucher codes have been redeemed into supermarket e-gift cards by schools and families. Edenred has confirmed that it has issued all voucher codes ordered by schools that were due for delivery between 20 April and 3 May – the period specified in this question.

Edenred is also contacting schools that have started but not yet completed the ordering process, to resolve these incomplete orders. It is also contacting schools where voucher code emails to parents have bounced back, for example, where the school has provided an invalid email address for a parent.

Since its launch, we have been working very closely with Edenred to improve the performance of the national voucher scheme, including significantly reducing any waiting times that parents and schools previously experienced when accessing the website. We are very grateful to families and schools for their understanding and patience during these upgrades to the system.

These are rapidly developing circumstances. We continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.