Mr Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Laurence Robertson on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will allow a transitional period for schools to prepare to provide free school meals for under-sevens in cases where those schools need to set up their own kitchens; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws

The Government announced in September 2013 that state-funded schools will be required to offer free school meals to infant pupils from September 2014, giving schools a full year to put arrangements in place. We know from the universal free school meal pilots, in which schools were required to provide meals to all infant pupils and all key stage 2 pupils, that it is possible for schools to prepare to implement this policy with much less notice.

In order to help schools to implement universal infant free school meals in September 2014 we have put in place a national support service, run by school food experts. The assistance available through that service includes a telephone helpline, the sharing of good practice, and intensive face-to-face support. We are also providing additional funding of £22.5 million to help small schools with the transition to providing meals for all their infant pupils.