Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes

(asked on 15th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of not extending the free school meals voucher scheme over the 2020 school summer holidays on foodbank usage.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 23rd June 2020

Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to COVID-19, the government fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing additional funding for a COVID-19 Summer Food Fund which will enable families with children who are eligible for free school meals to receive food vouchers covering the 6-week holiday period. This is a specific measure to reflect the unique circumstances of the outbreak and builds on wider support put in place by the government. This support includes the Department for Education’s holiday activities and food programme, providing support to thousands of disadvantaged children this summer, and our investment of up to £35 million in a national breakfast clubs programme, which provides a healthy start to children in schools in disadvantaged areas.

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