Free School Meals: Coronavirus

(asked on 20th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason schools that are able to reclaim the costs of making alternative arrangements to the National Voucher Scheme to provide free school meal vouchers are required to draw on the Emergency Fund that is capped dependent on the size of the school; and whether he plans to allocate additional funding to schools where the costs of (a) free school meal vouchers and (b) other covid-related emergency costs exceed the limit placed on their Emergency Funds.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 8th June 2020

We are providing additional funding to schools, on top of their existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources. The fund is targeted towards the costs we have identified as the biggest barrier to schools during the period of partial closure, including providing free school meals to eligible children who are not in school where the national voucher scheme is not appropriate.

As this funding relates to several categories of exceptional costs that schools may face it is reasonable to limit the overall amount that each individual school can claim for all of these costs together to make sure public funding is spent appropriately.

Where schools have exceptional circumstances, we will consider extending limits on a case by case basis. This is set out in the guidance on the fund. We will continue to review the scope of the fund and the overall support available as the COVID-19 outbreak develops.

Reticulating Splines