Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Government contracts for the provision of school breakfasts.

The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs in England and is further investing up to £24 million to continue our national programme for the next two years. This funding will support around 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas in England, including opportunity areas. This means that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.

The breakfast clubs programme is operated by our provider Family Action.

Throughout the current contract we will be working with this provider to monitor different aspects of the current programme and its effectiveness on school breakfast provisions. We will consider the best opportunities to share information as it progresses.

The department made a £38 million investment in the National School Breakfast Programme between March 2018 and July 2021. This has helped to set up or improve breakfast clubs in up to 2,450 schools in disadvantaged areas and to sustain them in the longer term.