Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the cost to charities of the additional spend on food banks likely to arise from ending free school meals for those affected by restrictions introduced by the Free School Lunches and Milk, and School and Early Years Finance (Amendments Relating to Universal Credit) (England) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/148).

Our transitional protection arrangements will ensure that no child will lose free school meals during the rollout of Universal Credit as a result of these new regulations. Under new criteria, we estimate that by 2022 around 50,000 more children will benefit from a free school meal compared to the previous benefits system.