Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the UK becoming a signatory member of the School Meals Coalition established at the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit.

The UK Government warmly welcomed the Secretary General's announcement of the UN Food Systems Summit. The Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment personally delivered a UK national statement at the September Summit and led the UK's pre-Summit delegation in July. The Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment used both opportunities to highlight the UK's leadership commitments on famine prevention and nature as well as our COP26 ambition on sustainable agriculture.

The FCDO is monitoring several UN Food Systems Summit coalitions, including the School Meals Coalition, to understand their ambitions as well as the expectations of Member States who express support. While HMG supports school meals in the UK, the coalitions are international as well as domestic in scope and UK membership of the School Meals Coalition would have implications for our international development strategy. FCDO's assessment, based on evidence, is that supporting women and children from when they are conceived up to their second birthday is the most effective way to avert malnutrition and its long-term consequences.