Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether additional support will be made available to schools to help meet staffing costs as a result of the launch of the new free breakfast club programme in April 2026.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state funded school with primary-aged children and the department has successfully delivered 7 million meals so far through our 750 early adopter schools.
Having listened to schools and taken onboard feedback from the early adopter phase, we have increased the mainstream funding rate from April to help schools in areas including staffing.
Schools have the discretion to identify the most appropriate workforce to deliver free breakfast clubs, depending on their school’s context, existing staff contracts and arrangements and the mix of skills and experience required.
Free breakfast clubs can be led by various individuals, including teaching assistants, school catering staff, private, voluntary or independent providers, or others specifically hired to deliver the role.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to help tackle inequalities in access to healthy, minimally processed food through education.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The national curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department has set out that we will enhance the identity of food education by clearly distinguishing cooking and nutrition, which will be renamed food and nutrition, as a distinct strand within design and technology.
The updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance includes content on healthy eating. Pupils are taught what constitutes a healthy diet, the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals, the characteristics of a poor diet and risks associated with unhealthy eating.
The School Food Standards regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. We aim to revise the School Food Standards and are engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
From September 2026, we will extend free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit. This will ensure that over 500,000 additional children receive a free and nutritious lunchtime meal.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that updated school food standards are implemented before the planned expansion of free breakfast clubs in April and free school meals in September.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial stability of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, including debt levels; and what assessment they have made of whether the (1) budget, (2) contents, or (3) availability, of free school meals has been reduced at schools in that trust.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department continues to work with the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust. Where financial non-compliance or governance concerns are identified, the department will intervene in a way that is proportionate to the risk and preserves education and free school meal provision.
The Education Act 1996 as amended places a duty upon academies to provide free school meals to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria.
The government is delivering on its manifesto commitment by legislating to introduce Ofsted inspection of academy trusts and related intervention powers for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. Trust inspection will help drive better outcomes for children and provide greater confidence for parents.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks of expanding free school meals in September before updated school food standards are implemented and enforced.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This means over half a million more disadvantaged children will be receiving the support they need in school to be healthy and get the most out of their education.
These meals must be compliant with the School Food Standards. To ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history, we are revising the School Food Standards and are engaging with stakeholders.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the immigration health surcharge refund policy to allow for partial refunds to be made for periods of overlapping payments in cases where the applicant has applied to (a) extend and (b) switch their visa from outside the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The new guidance being produced by the Home Office is designed to assist local authorities in supporting families with NRPF, as set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. The guidance will provide clarity around statutory duties and key safeguards for local authorities, ensuring a clear and consistent approach. The guidance does not alter the eligibility criteria for any current schemes or benefits.
Children whose families are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) can currently access schemes and benefits such as free school meals, 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and15 hours free childcare for three- to four-year-old.
The Home Office will continue to work across government where relevant to ensure that migrant children with NRPF are specifically considered when reviewing or deciding on eligibility for schemes and benefits.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing partial refunds for overlapping immigration health surcharges in cases where the applicant has applied to (a) extend and (b) switch their visa from outside the UK and are able to demonstrate evidence of financial harm as a result.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The new guidance being produced by the Home Office is designed to assist local authorities in supporting families with NRPF, as set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. The guidance will provide clarity around statutory duties and key safeguards for local authorities, ensuring a clear and consistent approach. The guidance does not alter the eligibility criteria for any current schemes or benefits.
Children whose families are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) can currently access schemes and benefits such as free school meals, 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and15 hours free childcare for three- to four-year-old.
The Home Office will continue to work across government where relevant to ensure that migrant children with NRPF are specifically considered when reviewing or deciding on eligibility for schemes and benefits.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of potential data processing measures to enable automatic registration for free school meals.
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 want to make sure that every family that needs support can access it.
We are introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals so that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals from September 2026. This will make it easier for parents to know whether their children are entitled to receive free meals. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty and putting £500 back in families’ pockets.
We are also rolling out improvements to the Eligibility Checking System, the digital portal currently used by local authorities to verify if a child meets the eligibility criteria for free lunches. Giving parents and schools access will accelerate eligibility checks, making it easier to check if children are eligible for free meals.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the Holiday Activities and Food Programme from returns submitted by local authorities following the end of each holiday period.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
For the holiday, activities and food (HAF) programme, the department collects data from local authorities after each delivery period, to support performance monitoring, inform policy development and support evaluation.
Data collection includes the number of children attending HAF provision, broken down by characteristics such as free school meal (FSM) eligibility, as well as the number of places available and how well providers meet the HAF framework of standards.
Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 20.4 million HAF days to children and young people in this country, providing nutritious meals and enriching activities during school holidays, benefitting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn. Over the three most recent winter, Easter and summer delivery periods, almost five million HAF days were provided. Over summer 2025, local authorities reported that over 624,000 children and young people attended the programme, of whom more than 513,000 were funded directly through HAF and over 434,000 were receiving benefits-related FSMs.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reviewing the No Recourse to Public Funds income thresholds to ensure equity of eligibility for all children when expanding access to the free school meals to children from families in receipt of universal credit.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department has permanently extended free school meal eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds, provided they meet income thresholds set out in public guidance.
This ensures that children can access support regardless of their background or circumstances, including the immigration status of their parents.
The income thresholds for No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) households were designed to account for the differences in household income between NRPF households and those with access to additional state support to ensure parity.
The government has set out plans to extend free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. The department continues to keep all aspects of the free school meals system under review.