Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 12 February (HL4531), whether the management information related to the "no recourse to public funds" condition is not available on the Atlas system for each leave to remain record.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Atlas records, as part of a leave to remain decision, whether an individual has been given a ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) condition, and every individual who has an immigration application record on Atlas has their nationality, gender and date of birth recorded as standard. Management Information reports related to the NRPF condition are not yet available, pending prioritisation of enabling work.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the maximum income threshold for free school meals eligibility for children in families with no recourse to public funds in line with the eligibility criteria introduced on 4 June 2025.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
Children from households with no recourse to public funds can receive FSM, subject to meeting income criteria set by the department in our published guidance.
The department does not hold exact figures for FSM-eligible children from households with no recourse to public funds. In total, 2.2 million school pupils are eligible to receive FSM on the basis of low income. This figure includes children who are eligible under the criteria for households with no recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in families subject to no recourse to public funds provisions have received the concession on access to free school meals introduced in 2022; and what the breakdown is of those figures by (a) region and (b) year since 2022.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
Children from households with no recourse to public funds can receive FSM, subject to meeting income criteria set by the department in our published guidance.
The department does not hold exact figures for FSM-eligible children from households with no recourse to public funds. In total, 2.2 million school pupils are eligible to receive FSM on the basis of low income. This figure includes children who are eligible under the criteria for households with no recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of children in families subject to no recourse to public funds provisions that have received the families receiving additional support (FRAS) entitlement for eligible 2-year-olds in each of the last five years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Families in receipt of additional forms of support to children in ‘no recourse to public fund’ households have been eligible for the 15-hours entitlement since September 2022.
The early years census data collects data on the number of children taking up the entitlement for families in receipt of additional forms of support, however, the department is unable to break this down by immigration status.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure coordination between her Department and the Department for Work and Pensions when monitoring foreign nationals' eligibility for Universal Credit.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) applies strict compliance and benefit eligibility checks to all claimants regardless of their nationality. In addition to verifying a claimant’s identity, DWP always checks a person’s immigration status before paying them benefits if they are a foreign national. The DWP verify this information with the Home Office, including through automatic system-to-system checks, which the Home Office is increasingly rolling out to other Government departments and public authorities.
The data made available through those system-to-system checks is specific to the need of each department and contains only the necessary information to inform their decision making.
No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is a standard condition applied to most categories of temporary immigration permission, which prevents those who are subject to immigration control from accessing certain services or benefits.
Those who are in the UK without lawful status are also prevented from accessing public funds. This includes access to Universal Credit.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding available for specialist by and for violence against women and girls organisations that support (a) Black, Asian and minority ethnic survivors, (b) migrant victim-survivors and (c) migrant victim-survivors with No Recourse to Public Funds.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government recognises the specific challenges that both Black, Asian and minority ethnic survivors, and migrant victim-survivors, can face when accessing support. These can include cultural and language barriers, fear of reporting to the police, and difficulty accessing refuge and support.
To address this, we fund financial and wraparound support to migrant victims of domestic abuse through a scheme delivered by Southall Black Sisters, a by-and-for organisation. This can include accommodation, subsistence, counselling and immigration support. Funding for the scheme was increased by £398k in 2024/25, with a further uplift of £600k in 2025/26, bringing total investment to £2.4m. Migrant victims here on certain visa routes can also access the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession, which provides three months recourse to public funds.
In addition, we are investing £1.96m in the Flexible Fund, delivered by Women’s Aid Federation England and a consortium of over 470 services. This provides financial support to victims of domestic abuse, including those with no recourse to public funds, to enable them to leave abusive situations where their financial situation otherwise prevents that.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding available to specialist by and for violence against women and girls organisations.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We recognise the vital role of specialist and ‘by and for’ services in providing the tailored support that victims and survivors of VAWG need to recover and rebuild their lives. That’s why in May 2025 we announced a £19.9m investment to provide vital support to victims of VAWG, increase awareness of VAWG and fund projects across the country aimed at preventing these horrific crimes. This includes:
The Home Office continues work on improving the commissioning of ‘by and for’ services at the local level to help stabilise and strengthen the sector.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 5 June (HLWS681), what plans they have, if any, to increase the household maximum income thresholds for free school meal eligibility for children with no recourse to public funds conditions.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have now announced that we are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
The department has permanently extended FSM eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), subject to maximum income thresholds.
In addition, families with NRPF may also be eligible to access the Healthy Start scheme, details of which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/healthy-start.
As with all programmes, we will continue to keep eligibility for FSM, including for families with NRPF, under review.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the No Recourse to Public Funds policy on the mental health of asylum seekers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 29 May to Question 53554.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families subject to No Recourse to Public Funds are (a) in receipt of Healthy Start and (b) have had their application for Healthy Start rejected.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department transferred the Healthy Start Extension Scheme to the NHS Business Services Authority at the beginning of April 2025.
As of the 19 June 2025, the number of those subject to no recourse to public funds, with a British child aged under four years old, in receipt of the Healthy Start Extension Scheme is 75.
Since April 2025 and as of the 19 June 2025, the number of applications for the Healthy Start Extension scheme that have been rejected is 51.