Written question asked by Brian Jenkins (Labour) on Thursday, 3 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 November 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 14 November 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Free School Meals

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many children in (a) England and (b) Tamworth are eligible for free school meals; and what the take-up rate has been in each of the last five years;

Answer

The information requested is shown in the tables.

Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools: school meal arrangements, position in January each year: 2001 to 2005—Tamworth parliamentary constituency⁽¹³⁾
		Maintained nursery and primary
	Number on roll	Pupils taking free school meals	Percentage taking free school meals	Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2001	8,860	1,173	13.2	1,390	15.7
2002	8,752	1,116	12.8	1,333	15.2
2003	8,470	914	10.8	1,132	13.4
2004	8,254	888	10.8	1,086	13.2
2005	8,171	868	10.6	1,041	12.7

		Maintained secondary
	Number on roll	Pupils taking free school meals	Percentage taking free school meals	Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2001	6,079	491	8.1	753	12.4
2002	6,086	481	7.9	720	11.8
2003	6,243	547	8.8	671	10.7
2004	6,191	467	7.5	636	10.3
2005	6,056	396	6.5	587	9.7
Source: Annual schools' census
⁽¹³⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed
⁽¹⁴⁾ Prior to 2003 ‘Number on roll' includes all full and part time pupils who are solely registered, excluding boarding pupils. Due to underlying changes in data collection, this coverage was extended to also include all pupils with dual (main) registration and boarding pupils from 2003.
⁽¹⁵⁾ Based upon school level numbers of pupils who had a free school meal on 20 January 2005.

Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools: school meal arrangements, position in January each year: 2001 to 2005—Staffordshire local authority⁽¹⁶⁾
		Maintained nursery and primary
	Number on roll	Pupils taking free school meals	Percentage taking free school meals	Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2001	70,610	7,038	10.0	8,509	12.1
2002	69,530	6,756	9.7	8,146	11.7
2003	68,166	6,291	9.2	7,560	11.1
2004	66,862	6,068	9.1	7,333	11.0
2005	65,976	5,694	8.6	7,007	10.6

		Maintained secondary
	Number on roll	Pupils taking free school meals	Percentage taking free school meals	Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2001	60,934	3,841	6.3	5,625	9.2
2002	61,272	3,851	6.3	5,622	9.2
2003	62,290	3,789	6.1	5,418	8.7
2004	62,381	3,744	6.0	5,310	8.5
2005	61,382	3,644	5.9	4,993	8.1
Source: Annual schools' census
⁽¹⁶⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed
⁽¹⁷⁾ Prior to 2003 ‘Number on roll' includes all full and part time pupils who are solely registered, excluding boarding pupils. Due to underlying changes in data collection, this coverage was extended to also include all pupils with dual (main) registration and boarding pupils from 2003.
⁽¹⁸⁾ Based upon school level numbers of pupils who had a free school meal on 20 January 2005.

Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools: school meal arrangements, position in January each year: 2001 to 2005England⁽¹⁹⁾
		Maintained nursery and primary
	Number on roll	Pupils taking free school meals	Percentage taking free school meals	Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2001	4,451,220	631,640	14.2	783,510	17.6
2002	4,405,640	616,630	14.0	754,510	17.1
2003	4,350,260	604,910	13.9	731,610	16.8
2004	4,293,180	608,760	14.2	741,150	17.3
2005	4,243,110	568,350	13.4	717,230	16.9

		Maintained secondary
	Number on roll	Pupils taking free school meals	Percentage taking free school meals	Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2001	3,226,970	353,470	11.0	509,680	15.8
2002	3,260,930	354,260	10.9	486,350	14.9
2003	3,308,490	349,780	10.6	478,920	14.5
2004	3,326,800	351,380	10.6	477,290	14.3
2005	3,317,590	335,140	10.1	465,520	14.0
Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Annual schools' census
⁽¹⁹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽²⁰⁾ Prior to 2003 ‘Number on roll1 includes all full and part time pupils who are solely registered, excluding boarding pupils. Due to underlying changes in data collection, this coverage was extended to also include all pupils with dual (main) registration and boarding pupils from 2003
⁽²¹⁾ Based upon school level numbers of pupils who had a free school meal on 20 January 2005.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 26165; 439 c938-40W;439 c938-40W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Free School Meals
Monday, 14 November 2005
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Eligibility Free school meals Take-up Staffordshire Tamworth
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk