Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the finding of Impact on Urban Health Cost in its report Investing in Children’s Future: A Cost Benefit Analysis of Free School Meal Provision Expansion that provision of free school meals to all primary school students would generate £41.3bn in direct benefits to schools, families and the NHS and a further £58.2bn in benefit to the wider economy, if he will make it his policy to expand eligibility for free school meals to all primary school students.

The Department continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments in providing support. The Department will continue to keep free school meal (FSM) eligibility under review, ensuring that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the Department believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.