Every child should have the opportunity to meet their potential regardless of their background or where they’re from. This include access to regular, healthy and balanced meals throughout the day to ensure they are able to thrive in the classroom and, hopefully, encourage healthy and stable eating habits for life.
The Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014 set out guidance on how schools should provide children with healthy food and drink options to get the necessary energy and nutrition throughout the school day, including that meat or poultry must be offered on three or more days each week, and that milk must be available for drinking every day. Schools must also do all they can to make free water visible and easily available.
While the Education Act 1996 required maintained schools and academies (including free schools) to provide free school meals to disadvantaged pupils who are aged between 5 and 16 years old, the previous Conservative Government significantly expanded access to free school meals in recent years.
All infants (those in reception, year 1 and year 2) are eligible for free school meals. In 2014, we extended free school meal eligibility so that further education students can access them and in 2018 we introduced new eligibility criteria to support the transition to Universal Credit. These changes enabled us to help more children under the new system. We have also permanently extended eligibility for free school meals to children from families with No Recourse to Public Funds (subject to income thresholds).
Practically, this means that 1.25m children in reception, years 1 and 2 receive Free Schools Meals, and 1.9m other pupils in all year groups because of household benefits. That’s around 37.5% of the total pupil population.
Under the last Government, the Department for Education spent over £1 billion each year on free school meals, including through the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme and school breakfast clubs. This included around £600 million on the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) policy.
I would like to see continued support for schools and children so that they are able to benefit from the national breakfast club programme, which has created or improved breakfast clubs in up to 2,450 schools located in the most disadvantaged parts of the country. I am pleased that up to £38 million has been invested into the National School Breakfast Programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues supporting 280,000 children in some of the most deprived areas of England.
I will continue to hold the new Labour Government to account to ensure that adequate funding is provided to ensure every child within my constituency and across the country has access to regular, healthy meals.
