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Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Thursday, 4 December 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 December 2025. It was answered by Olivia Bailey (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 January 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Giving every child the best start in life, updated on 12 September 2025, whether the review of early years funding will include an assessment of food costs within the funding formula.

Answer

To make sure that the early years (EY) funding system properly supports those children and parts of the country that have higher levels of additional need, the department will review EY funding, including the EY national funding formulae, consulting on a set of changes and publishing full details by Summer 2026.

Within EY, free school meals (FSM) applies to school-based nurseries (SBNs) for children who attend both before and after lunch. As part of the expansion of FSM, the department has announced that children in SBNs whose household is in receipt of Universal Credit, will be eligible for FSM from September 2026.

Beyond the provision of FSM, the statutory guidance makes clear that funding for the entitlements does not cover consumables like meals, so providers can ask parents to pay, provided they are not mandatory or a condition of accessing an entitlements place. As such, the cost of consumables will not fall within the scope of the planned review of EY funding.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
97169
Session
2024-26
Related items
Giving every child the best start in life
Monday, 7 July 2025
Command papers
House of Commons
House of Lords
Subjects
Finance Pre-school education
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk