Schools: Food
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ringfence school meal funding.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
The department spends approximately £1.5 billion annually on free lunches for 2.1 million school age pupils under benefits-based free school meals, over 90,000 disadvantaged students in further education, and around 1.3 million infant pupils under the Universal Infant Free School Meal scheme to ensure they receive a nutritious lunchtime meal.
Funding is not ring-fenced, meaning that schools have autonomy over delivery, including entering into catering contracts with suppliers and allocation of funding within their budgets.
The department regularly speaks to food industry representatives on a range of issues including sector challenges such as funding.
As with all government programmes, the department will keep our approach to free school meals, including funding, under continued review.
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