Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
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 asylum support rates on child poverty among families seeking asylum; and whether she has shared this assessment with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for consideration in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to meet the essential living needs of destitute asylum seekers. We meet this obligation by providing accommodation and a weekly allowance. The level of the allowance given is reviewed each year to ensure it remains sufficient in meeting essential living needs.
Additional support is available to pregnant women, young children, and individuals who can show they have exceptional needs. Asylum seeking children are also entitled to access free healthcare and schooling, plus free school meals.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support families with food poverty in winter 2025-26.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK Government is committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
Universal Credit is claimed by more than 8.2 million people across the UK and we are committed to reviewing it to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have already introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, reducing the Universal Credit overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance. In addition, we will increase the Universal Credit Standard Allowance from April 2026, estimated to be worth £725 annually by 2029/30 in cash terms. In Northern Ireland, all DWP policy is wholly transferred, and decisions about policy and delivery are the responsibility of the Assembly.
The UK Government has also taken further action to support low-income households including through the increase in the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025, boosting the pay of 3 million workers. It has also announced further measures to support families in a number of other areas where policy in Northern Ireland is transferred including, for example, our expansion of Free School Meals and Breakfast Clubs in England and additional investment in the Holiday Activities and Food Programme in England.
To further support struggling families, we provided £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England until 31 March 2026, enabling local authorities to continue to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. The Devolved Governments receive consequential funding through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.
Good work can significantly reduce the chances of families falling into poverty. Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by an initial £240 million investment in 2025/26, will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities. In Northern Ireland, these are transferred matters. Ministers and officials continue to work closely with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive, with a view to maintaining parity on social security matters and sharing best practice in the development of employment support.
The UK Government will publish a UK-wide Child Poverty Strategy this Autumn that will look at all available levers to give every child the best start in life, building on work already across all four nations. The Four Nations Ministerial Group on Child Poverty gave Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland an opportunity to contribute to the development of the strategy and ensure that it complements their own initiatives.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the registration of eligible children for free school meals; and whether she plans to introduce free school meal auto-enrolment in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We want to ensure that all families who need it are able to claim the support they are eligible for. Creating a new threshold for free school meals will ensure that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit are eligible, making it easier for parents to understand their entitlement.
The government is also taking action to make it quicker and easier for both families and local authorities to get children signed up for free school meals by rolling out improvements to the eligibility checking system used to verify entitlement to free school meals.
The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Taskforce will continue to explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term action across government to reduce child poverty.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department takes through school food (a) standards and (b) guidance to tackle ultra-processed foods; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward further proposals to help reduce the proportion of ultra-processed items in school (i) meals and (ii) vending machines.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has considered the impact of processed foods on health in 2023 and 2025, and recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt and free sugars and low in fibre.
The School Food Standards already restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods, but to ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, the department is working with with experts across the sector to revise the School Food Standards, so every school is supported with updated nutrition guidance.
The School Food Standards apply to food and drink provided to pupils on school premises up to 6pm and include vending machines.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children that have required access to free school meals in each of the last five years in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department publishes data on free school meals (FSM) in its annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25. The most recent data was published on 5 June, and the next publication is planned for summer 2026.
To access FSM data for the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency for the 2024/25 academic year, refer to the file titled 'School level underlying data 2025 (CSV, 22 MB)', located in the 'Additional supporting files' section.
To access data from previous academic years, visit the 'Releases in this series' section on the publication website. Then, locate the 'School level underlying data' file under 'Additional supporting files'.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of pupils in Fylde constituency who are eligible for free school meals but do not take them.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department publishes data on free school meals (FSM) in our annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25. The most recent data was published on 5 June, and the next publication is planned for summer 2026.
The department does not hold information on the proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for FSM but do not take them. However, we collect data on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for FSM and the number and proportion of pupils who had taken lunch recorded as taking a FSM on census day.
To access data from previous academic years, visit the 'Releases in this series' section on the publication website. Then, locate the 'School level underlying data' file under 'Additional supporting files'.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in Lancashire were eligible for free school meals in each of the last five years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department publishes data on free school meals (FSM) in our annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25. The most recent data was published on 5 June, and the next publication is planned for summer 2026.
The department does not hold information on the proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for FSM but do not take them. However, we collect data on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for FSM and the number and proportion of pupils who had taken lunch recorded as taking a FSM on census day.
To access data from previous academic years, visit the 'Releases in this series' section on the publication website. Then, locate the 'School level underlying data' file under 'Additional supporting files'.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Holiday Activities and Food programme on levels of (a) food insecurity and (b) support for families during school holidays.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The holiday activities and food programme (HAF) ensures that children who are eligible for free school meals can access enriching activities and healthy meals during school holidays, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. On 28 August, the department announced that over £600 million has been confirmed for the programme for the next three financial years, from 2026/27.
This multi-year commitment gives parents and providers certainty that clubs will be available over what can otherwise be an expensive holiday period, ensuring that children and young people continue to benefit from enriching holiday experiences and nutritious meals. The programme also opens work opportunities for parents on low incomes to support their families.
Almost five million HAF days were provided across the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays this year, reaching over half a million children. During summer 2024, over 628,000 children attended the HAF programme.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the income thresholds for eligibility for free school meals.
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, that is why the department is introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals. This ensures that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible from September 2026. This change will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back into families’ pockets.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number and proportion of pre-schools that rely on fundraising to cover (a) operational and (b) staffing costs in the South West.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The early years funding rates for the 2025/26 financial year for Gloucestershire are £5.71 for the 3 and 4 year-old entitlement, £7.94 for the 2 year-old entitlements, and £10.75 for children under 2s. This is slightly below national average due to relative differences in local costs of delivery and the proportion of children with additional needs which are reflected in the Early Years National Funding Formula (EY NFF) used to set local authority rates.
Regarding levels of additional needs, the EY NFF uses data on free school meals and the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (for the 2s and under formula only), disability living allowance and English as an additional language. The formulae also include an area cost adjustment to reflect variations in local staff and premises costs.
The department does not hold data on the proportion of settings using fundraising to support their income.