Did you mean Free schools deals?
Lord Field of Birkenhead: To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they have provided, if any, to local authorities about using data proactively to identify and register all eligible children for free school meal entitlement.
John Mason: ...caring responsibilities are in play. As the Government points out in its response to the committee, there needs to be “wider action to tackle poverty”, including “more affordable homes ... Free School Meals and” social security. The fact that the social security budget is rising from £5.3 billion to £6.3 billion while many other budgets are rising by very little—if at...
Kirsty Blackman: ...lower earners. Lower earners, higher earners, middle earners and non-earners are all able to benefit from access to universal public services. They are able to benefit from accessing an NHS that is free at the point of use—in Scotland, that is, not in England, where people have to pay prescription charges. They are able to benefit from their children being able to go to schools and get...
Mark Drakeford: .... Here in Wales, there are 9,500 places—not a plan, but actually happening in Wales. Let me give her the second reason that she can be a bit more cheerful than she managed earlier on: universal free school meals for our children—opposed, of course, by her party. Some 150,000 extra pupils are benefiting from that policy, with 17 million additional free meals provided to children in our...
Danny Baker: I welcome the report from the NI Audit Office (NIAO) today on child poverty. The report outlines in detail that one in five children in the North is living in poverty. Children receiving free school meals are twice as likely to leave school with no GCSEs, and there are ongoing concerns around their school attendance. All evidence shows that children who grow up in poverty are more likely to...
Kirsty Blackman: ...but if he cared very much about the tax system and trying to make a difference to people’s lives, he would ensure that local authorities in England are not raising council tax by 4.99%. He would freeze council tax for people. He will have looked at the national insurance changes and thought to himself, “How do these changes work? They are better. They give more money to people who make...
Lord Markham: I assure my noble friend that the numbers are correct; they are the lowest since 2006-07. I can also assure her that free school meals are at their highest level ever, at 33%. The whole idea behind those programmes, as well as the Healthy Start in school and the five-a-day, is to give children healthy diets early on, exactly as my noble friend says.
Chris Stephens: New data reveals that in most areas of England, state school pupils who have received free school meals have less than a one in four chance of entering higher education. One reason for that is that poorer students decide not to pursue that path because of the prospect of being saddled with huge debt, which takes decades to clear. Do the Government believe that they should follow the Scottish...
Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2023 to Question 165185 on Free School Meals, whether any complex data, systems, financial and legal implications are still a barrier to the rollout of auto-enrolment.
Peter Grant: .... We have seen a £66 billion increase in the tax burden in this Parliament alone, and far too often it is people on lower incomes who pick up the biggest share. As has been mentioned, the six-year freeze on tax thresholds will cost taxpayers an extra £30 billion in stealth tax by 2027-28, even allowing for the impact of the 2p national insurance cut. The UK’s interest payments as a...
Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to support local authorities piloting an opt-out model for free school meal registration.
Jenny Gilruth: We have the most comprehensive free school meal offer of any nation in the United Kingdom, and we are currently extending it to cover primary 6 and 7 children in receipt of the Scottish child payment from February 2025 as the next step towards universal provision in our primary schools.
Jeremy Corbyn: ...in other words, there are 26 other boroughs that are less deprived. Some 19,000 people in my borough experience high levels of food insecurity. I am delighted that the Mayor of London has pledged free school meals across the whole of the city, even though my borough has been providing them since 2010. It is a huge step forward. We have a very high rate of child poverty, with 47.5% of our...
Nickie Aiken: ...incomes squeezed, I do not think it has ever been more important to protect our libraries. They not only offer a diverse range of books, but act as an essential third place between home and school. That is particularly beneficial for children who live in overcrowded homes and need a quiet place to do their homework. Yesterday, I jointly hosted the World Book Day parliamentary drop-in with...
Jane Hutt: ...the Flying Start programme, which, with the co-operation of Plaid Cymru, reaches our most disadvantaged children and families at such an early stage in their lives, and, of course, the roll-out of free school meals, which of course was a key plank of our co-operation agreement and, indeed, of the budget. So, I think we are doing together—. Many of the aspects of the co-operation...
Jane Hutt: ..., indeed, in Carmarthenshire as well. It is work to streamline the Welsh benefits system, and, of course, it's starting with those key benefits in terms of access to council tax reduction benefits, free school meals and the school essentials grant. It is going to report to the partnership council for Wales, and on the external group, which has already met within days of us launching the...
Heledd Fychan: ..., and a number of the organisations present there who work so hard to support people in their communities were greatly concerned about a number of programmes coming to an end, such as, for example, free school meals in the summer holidays. There are so many things that we could be achieving with investment. A number of these points have been made through the scrutiny committees and...
Paul Givan: ...include putting our current guidance on a statutory basis, which Mr Carroll just referred to, to strengthen measures such as avoiding single suppliers and expensive branded items; ensuring that schools develop policies with the agreement of parents and children; and issues relating specifically to the uniform, for example avoiding or limiting the number of branded items required, avoiding...
David Johnston: ...Valley is right that boys’ attainment is not currently as high as that of girls. He will know that the attainment of some ethnic groups is not as high as some others, and that the attainment of free school meal children is not generally as high as non-free school meal children. I know that the issue of white working- class boys is something he has spoken about many times, as have my hon....
Peter Aldous: ...of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of permitting the proactive use of data by local authorities to identify and register children eligible for free school meals.