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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the percentage of school meals provided free at the point of delivery is in (a) England and (b) Hull; what percentage of pupils in primary schools eat school meals in (i) England and (ii) Hull; and if she will make a statement. [224652] Derek Twigg: The available information is shown in the table. Information on pupils taking school meals is not collected centrally. Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools1: School meal arrangements2,3 England and City of Kingston Upon Hull local education authority (LEA), January 2004 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Maintained nursery and primary Maintained secondary England Kingston Upon Hull LEA England Kingston Upon Hull LEA Number on roll 4,293,180 23,760 3,326,800 16,220 Number of pupils taking free 608,760 4,740 351,380 2,620 school meals4 Percentage of pupils taking 14.2 19.9 10.6 16.2 free school meals Number of pupils known to be 741,150 6,150 477,290 3,840 eligible for free school meals Percentage of pupils known 17.3 25.9 14.3 23.7 to be eligible for free school meals _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes dually registered pupils and boarding pupils. 3 Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 4 Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals that had a free meal on the Census day. Source: Annual Schools' Census Pupils are recorded as being eligible for free school meals if a claim has been made by them or on their behalf by parents and either the relevant authority has confirmed their eligibility or the school or LEA have seen the necessary documentation. Eligibility requires the parent (or pupil) to be in receipt of either income support, or income-based jobseekers allowance, or support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, or Child Tax credit but not working tax credit and have an annual income (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) that does not exceed for 2003-04 Tax Year £13,480. Section 512 of the Education Act 1996 (EA96), amended by section 201 of the Education Act 2002, places a duty on local education authorities to provide free school lunches to eligible pupils. (A similar duty is transferred to the governing body of any school that has had the budget for school lunches delegated to them). Children, whose parents receive the following support payments, are entitled to a free school lunch: Income support (IS); Income-based jobseekers allowance (IBJSA); Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; Child tax credit, provided they are not entitled to working tax credit and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue, that does not exceed 13,480 (2004-05). Children who receive IS or IBJSA in their own right are also entitled to free school lunches. For information on Wales I refer the right hon. Member to the Welsh Assembly.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1348-50W;432 c1344-6W; 224652

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Kingston upon Hull Free school meals Primary education School meals

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk