Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that parents that are eligible for free school meal vouchers over summer 2020 will be able to obtain those vouchers.

Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, 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 Summer Food Fund that will enable families with children who are eligible for free school meals to receive vouchers covering the 6-week holiday period. This is a specific measure to reflect the unique circumstances of the outbreak.

Guidance has been published for schools on the Covid Summer Food Fund, including details of how to ensure all pupils eligible for and claiming benefits-related free school meals receive a voucher before schools break up for the summer holidays. It sets out how schools should arrange for them to be sent to parents or carers.

The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-summer-food-fund.