VerbatimParliament, as it happens

Childcare: Free School Meals

Asked by Natasha IronsLabourDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 4 June 2025UIN 54468

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that two-year-olds in Government-funded childcare places receive free school meals in (a) private and (b) school nurseries.

Answered by Stephen Morgan

Under current programmes, 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils are registered to receive benefits-based free school meals (FSM). This includes pupils attending a local authority maintained, academy or free school nursery who are entitled to FSM, as long as they are either in full-time education or receive education both before and after lunch, and meet the benefits-based FSM eligibility criteria.

As with all government programmes, we will keep our approach to FSM under continued review.

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