Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of pupils who had received free school meals by the end of the 2020-21 summer term in York; and how many of those pupils were in receipt of food support during the 2021 school summer holidays through their (a) school and (b) local authority.

The number of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England is published as part of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2021.

The number of pupils eligible for and claiming FSM in the York local authority in January 2021 is 3,349.

This data includes pupils at state-funded nursery and primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and free schools.

The Department for Education funded Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which has provided healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children, has been expanded to every local authority across England this year, backed by up to £220 million. It builds on previous programmes, including last summer’s, which supported around 50,000 children across 17 local authorities.

York Council has been allocated a maximum of £436,010 to deliver HAF programmes over Easter, summer and Christmas 2021.

The Department for Work and Pensions have also distributed further funding through the Covid Local Support Grant which supports the hardest hit families and individuals with food and essential utility costs.