Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in the Tees Valley region were eligible for free school meals in 2023/24 and in 2025/26; how many are expected to be eligible in 2026/27; and what the estimated total value of support provided through free school meals and associated programmes in the Tees Valley will be in 2026/27 compared with 2023/24.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026, including in the Tees Valley region. This will ensure an additional half a million children across the country will receive a healthy, nutritious meal, putting £500 back in families’ pockets and lifting 100,000 children out of poverty.
The department publishes data on eligibility for FSM. Regional data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2025-26. In 2025/26, 37,752 children are eligible in the 5 local authority areas within Tees Valley. Following the expansion of FSM to all on Universal Credit from September 2026, the department expects approximately 51,000 children to be eligible based on data from the Department for Work and Pensions.
We are also improving the eligibility checking system to support schools and local authorities to identify and enrol eligible pupils more efficiently. Schools receive funding for FSM as part of their overall core funding. Additional funding for FSM expansion will be provided through the expansion of the grant.
At a national level, we have set aside over £1 billion in funding over the multi-year spending review period to cover additional meal costs.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she plans to offer children who are eligible for free school meals with free bus travel.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children aged 5 to 16 are eligible for free travel if they attend their nearest suitable school and cannot walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or route safety. Statutory walking distances are set at 2 miles for children under 8 and 3 miles for those aged 8 and over.
There are extended rights to free travel for children currently eligible for free school meals, to support low-income families to exercise school choice. More detail can be found in the statutory guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a10649929bb11891b1cf096/Travel_to_school_for_children_of_compulsory_school_age.pdf.
For these pupils, 11 to 16 year-olds may receive free travel to one of their three nearest schools between 2 to 6 miles from home, or to a school 2 to 15 miles away chosen on grounds of religion or belief; and the statutory walking distance is set at 2 miles for those aged 8 and over but under 11.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of expanding the automatic eligibility criteria for the Holiday Activities and Food programme to include all care-experienced children, including those who are looked after, in kinship care arrangements, or adopted.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government recognises that care-experienced children, including children who are looked after, living in kinship care or adopted, can face additional challenges.
The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, backed by over £600 million of funding for the next three years, provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to eligible children during the school holidays. The programme is specifically targeted at children eligible for free school meals from households with annual earnings of £7,400 or less, focussing on families facing the greatest levels of disadvantage.
Local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised places to children who do not meet the eligibility criteria but could benefit from HAF, in line with local needs and priorities such as care-experienced children.
The government is also strengthening support for care-experienced children through wider reforms, including enhanced support for children in kinship care, extension of the Virtual School Head role and investment in kinship care support.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate they have made of the number of children eligible for free school meals who are not registered to receive them.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department only collects data on pupils who are both eligible for and claiming free school meals. Children not claiming free school meals could be eligible or ineligible to claim them. As a result, no recent estimate has been made of the number of children eligible for but not registered to receive free school meals.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children adopted from care, or previously looked-after children, will lose any existing free school meal entitlement from September 2026.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026, lifting 100,000 children across England out of poverty and putting £500 back in families’ pockets.
Transitional protections meant that any child who had once received FSM would continue to receive it, even if their family circumstances had changed. No child who is eligible for FSM will lose their lunch before the expansion takes effect.
From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, all transitional protections will end and schools and local authorities will need to recheck FSM eligibility annually.
Local authorities play an important role in supporting these children’s educational outcomes and should continue work with schools to identify and verify eligibility for FSM where a parent or carer meets the relevant eligibility criteria.
Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities/free-school-meals-guidance-for-local-authorities-local-authority-maintained-schools-academies-and-free-schools.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the end of free school meal transitional protections will affect any adopted children who currently receive free school meals.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We are extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026, lifting 100,000 children across England out of poverty and putting £500 back in families’ pockets.
Transitional protections meant that any child who had once received FSM would continue to receive it, even if their family circumstances had changed. No child who is eligible for FSM will lose their lunch before the expansion takes effect.
From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, all transitional protections will end and schools and local authorities will need to recheck FSM eligibility annually.
Local authorities play an important role in supporting these children’s educational outcomes and should continue work with schools to identify and verify eligibility for FSM where a parent or carer meets the relevant eligibility criteria.
Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities/free-school-meals-guidance-for-local-authorities-local-authority-maintained-schools-academies-and-free-schools.
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy and affordability of childcare provision during school holidays; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that childcare costs do not prevent parents, particularly women, from remaining in employment.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Improving the cost and availability of childcare is a priority for this government. Families can receive support with costs through Tax-Free Childcare, Universal Credit Childcare and the Flexible Support Fund.
The government has committed over £600 million to the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme from 2026/27, providing children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with free meals and enriching activities during school holidays. In a recent survey of 20,000 parents and carers, more that 90% said HAF helped them worry less about money during the holidays and made it easier for them to work.
The department has not assessed the cost of holiday childcare. This year, we are providing £12.9 million to support local authorities with school-age childcare. To monitor this, we are collecting termly data to provide us with a broad picture of the availability of holiday childcare.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of additional children eligible for free school meals from September 2026.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, all children in households receiving Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM). Over half a million additional children will receive a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day. Around 3.4 million children currently receive FSM or universal infant free school meals, and this will rise to around 4 million with the expansion.
We have published data on the number of children who could benefit from expanded provision by constituency/region/local authority at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-expansion-impact-on-poverty-levels.
Asked by: Earl of Effingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the principal causes of persistent absence from schools in England since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The pandemic had a significant impact on attendance across the country, with persistent absence rates roughly doubling. Attendance has been improving year on year, though persistent absence remains above pre-pandemic levels.
The causes of persistent absence are complex and often overlapping. They include physical and mental ill health, special educational needs and disabilities, disadvantage, insecure housing, transport difficulties and other practical barriers.
Persistent absence is substantially higher among disadvantaged pupils. In the 2024/25 academic year, 32.35% of pupils eligible for free school meals were persistently absent, compared with 12.10% for pupils who are not eligible.
Absence also has a significant effect on attainment. Departmental analysis found that pupils who miss just 10 days in Year 11 have around half the odds of achieving grade 5 in English and mathematics compared with otherwise similar pupils. However, measures taken by the government and the sector are having an effect. In 2024/25 pupils attended over 5 million more days than in the previous year, and around 150,000 fewer children were persistently absent.
Asked by: Earl of Effingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of measures introduced to reduce persistent absence from schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The pandemic had a significant impact on attendance across the country, with persistent absence rates roughly doubling. Attendance has been improving year on year, though persistent absence remains above pre-pandemic levels.
The causes of persistent absence are complex and often overlapping. They include physical and mental ill health, special educational needs and disabilities, disadvantage, insecure housing, transport difficulties and other practical barriers.
Persistent absence is substantially higher among disadvantaged pupils. In the 2024/25 academic year, 32.35% of pupils eligible for free school meals were persistently absent, compared with 12.10% for pupils who are not eligible.
Absence also has a significant effect on attainment. Departmental analysis found that pupils who miss just 10 days in Year 11 have around half the odds of achieving grade 5 in English and mathematics compared with otherwise similar pupils. However, measures taken by the government and the sector are having an effect. In 2024/25 pupils attended over 5 million more days than in the previous year, and around 150,000 fewer children were persistently absent.