Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to ensure that free school meal vouchers provided during the school holidays are not spent on (a) alcohol and (b) other non-food items.

Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government 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.

Families are free to select the most appropriate food for their child. When selecting products, we encourage families to consider health and nutrition. The School Food Standards and the NHS Eat Well website may act as a useful guide for families. These can be found at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england and;
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/?tabname=recipes-and-tips.

The vouchers should be used for food and must not be redeemed for any age-restricted items, such as alcohol, cigarettes or lottery tickets. I have recently written to participating supermarkets to ensure their ongoing support in relation to these restrictions.