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.
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 difference in persistent absence rates between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils 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.
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 effect of persistent absence from school on GCSE attainment 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.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of implementing the Child Poverty Strategy over the next ten years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Child Poverty Strategy represents a long-term, cross-government approach to tackling the root causes of child poverty. The strategy’s successful implementation depends on co-ordinated action across a range of services. It sets out both the immediate action the Government is taking to support families and the longer-term action needed to address the structural drivers of poverty. It includes focus on boosting families' incomes through employment and the social security system, driving down the cost of essentials, and strengthening local support to ensure families can access vital services when they need them.
The commitments in the strategy will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began. This includes the removal of the two child limit which will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our strategy, such as the expansion of Free School Meals.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impacts of SATs on a) children with SEND, b) looked-after children and c) those eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Statutory tests and assessments at primary school help measure the attainment of pupils in relation to the standards set out in the national curriculum and help teachers and parents identify where pupils may need additional support in a certain subject area. Key stage 2 tests are subject to robust test development processes, which include reviews involving serving teachers and experts in special educational needs and trials with hundreds of year 6 pupils. Where appropriate, schools can use a range of access arrangements to ensure that pupils with specific needs can access the tests.
Asked by: Naushabah Khan (Labour - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his department has made of trends in the level of child poverty in the Gillingham and Rainham constituency; and what steps his department is taking to reduce child poverty in that area.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Statistics on the number and proportion of children living in relative poverty, including in parliamentary constituencies, are published annually in the Children in low income families: local area statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2022-to-2025.
Our Child Poverty Strategy sets out immediate action to reduce child poverty while delivering the foundations for long-term change. This includes removing the Universal Credit two-child limit, which is expected to lift 450,000 children out of relative poverty in the final year of this Parliament. Taken alongside other measures, including extending Free School Meals to all children in households in receipt of Universal Credit, the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament, which is expected to lead to the largest reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
The Strategy is supported by wider investment in families, including over £30 million for breakfast clubs, measures to cap branded school uniform costs, the introduction of Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority, £600 million over three years for the Holiday Activities and Food programme, and expanded free childcare. We are also strengthening local efforts to tackle child poverty through community projects and family services, including the £500 million Better Futures Fund
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government has assessed the combined impact of reducing adoption support funding while also changing school meal eligibility.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) provides important therapeutic support for adopted and special guardianship order children. The changes made in 2025/26 financial year were to ensure support for all those applying for ASGSF. The average cost per approved therapy in 2025/26 was below the maximum permissible Fair Access Limit amount, at £2,844.
Free school meals (FSM) are an income-based support offered for lower-income families. Speculative evidence (Adoption Barometer) suggests adopted children have historically been less likely to be FSM-eligible than the wider pupil population, reflecting that their needs are not solely income-related. From September 2026. FSM eligibility will be extended to all households receiving Universal Credit, significantly widening access and meaning more adopted children should benefit. Although more children under special guardianship arrangements would be eligible for FSM, they may face greater economic disadvantage and the department is exploring wider support, including trialling kinship allowances.
In 2026 27, the ASGSF budget has increased by 10% to £55 million, supporting access to provision at similar levels to previous years. Local authorities and regional adoption agencies may supplement this support where appropriate.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress she has made on extending free school meals to all children whose families are in receipt of Universal Credit by the September 2026 deadline; and whether eligible families will have to opt-in to receive this.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
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 the start of the 2026/27 academic year. We have published additional operational guidance on the expansion for local authorities, local authority maintained schools, academies and free schools
A pupil is eligible to receive FSM when a claim has been made on their behalf and their eligibility has been verified by either their school or the local authority. To support this process, our improvements to the Eligibility Checking System make it easier for local authorities, schools and parents to check if children are eligible for free meals. This is available now for local authorities to use.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made and assessment of the potential impact of changes to the two child benefit cap on levels of food bank use.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Although no assessment has been made regarding the impact of these changes on food bank use specifically, the reversal of the two child limit in Universal Credit demonstrates this Government’s relentless commitment to tackling child poverty by investing in the future of our children.
This measure is the most cost effective and quickest way of reducing child poverty over this Parliament and, by itself, will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament. It is not right that children were punished for choices that were not their own and we are determined to lift children out of poverty regardless of the size of their family.
Our commitment to tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s plan for national renewal - delivering more security, more opportunity, and more respect for every family and every community across the UK.
We are committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels. We have already taken many decisive steps to achieve this on top of removing the two child limit. This includes the expansion of free school meals and tripling our investment in breakfast clubs. We have also confirmed over £600 million for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for the next three financial years.
In addition, on 1 April 2026, we introduced a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis.