Free School Meals

Mark Fisher

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of pupils in the Stoke Central constituency received free school meals in each of the last three years. (106439)

The available information is shown in the tables.

*Maintained nursery and primary schools*¹*: school meal arrangements, position in January each year 2004 to 2006, Stoke Central constituency*
	All pupils²
	Number on roll	Number of pupils taking free school meals³	Percentage taking free school meals	Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2004	6,625	1,590	24.0	1,882	28.4
2005	6,503	1,444	22.2	1,765	27.1
2006	6,538	1,491	22.8	1,679	25.7

*Maintained secondary schools*¹*: school meal arrangements, position in January each year 2004 to 2006, Stoke Central constituency*
	All pupils²
	Number on roll	Number of pupils taking free school meals³	Percentage taking free school meals	Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
2004	3,213	734	22.8	806	25.1
2005	3,212	609	19.0	750	23.3
2006	3,130	375	12.0	703	22.5
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed. ² Includes boarders and dually registered pupils. ³ Number of pupils who took a free school meal on the day of the census in January.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in (a) Oxfordshire and (b) Wantage constituency received free school meals in each year since 1997. (106567)

The available information is shown in the tables.

*Maintained nursery and primary schools*¹*: school meal arrangements 1997 to 2006 position in January each year Oxfordshire local authority and Wantage parliamentary constituency*
	Oxfordshire local authority
	Number on roll^1,2	Number of pupils taking free school meals³	Percentage taking free school meals	Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
1997	45,747	4,045	8.8	5,048	11.0
1998	46,017	3,596	7.8	4,490	9.8
1999	46,428	3,257	7.0	4,406	9.5
2000	46,302	3,167	6.8	4,363	9.4
2001	45,994	2,973	6.5	4,210	9.2
2002	45,309	2,808	6.2	3,943	8.7
2003	45,943	2,861	6.2	4,012	8.7
2004	46,518	3,129	6.7	4,615	9.9
2005	47,313	2,805	5.9	4,599	9.7
2006	47,079	3,127	6.6	4,194	8.9

*Wantage parliamentary constituency*
	Number on roll^1,2	Number of pupils taking free school meals³	Percentage taking free school meals	Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
1997	7,692	598	7.8	702	9.1
1998	7,889	510	6.5	638	8.1
1999	7,935	488	6.1	634	8.0
2000	8,056	487	6.0	628	7.8
2001	8,218	458	5.6	627	7.6
2002	8,272	441	5.3	591	7.1
2003	8,130	434	5.3	581	7.1
2004	7,972	465	5.8	630	7.9
2005	8,215	436	5.3	619	7.5
2006	8,210	418	5.1	587	7.1
¹ 1997 to 2002 includes dually registered pupils and excludes boarding pupils. ²From 2003 includes dually registered pupils and boarding pupils. ³Number of pupils who took a free school meal on the day of the census in January.

*Maintained secondary schools*¹*: school meal arrangements 1997 to 2006 position in January each year Oxfordshire local authority and Wantage parliamentary constituency*
	Oxfordshire local authority
	Number on roll^1,2	Number of pupils taking free school meals³	Percentage taking free school meals	Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
1997	36,456	2,375	6.5	3,381	9.3
1998	36,922	2,215	6.0	3,325	9.0
1999	37,165	2,178	5.9	3,296	8.9
2000	37,609	2,257	6.0	3,477	9.2
2001	38,271	2,207	5.8	3,641	9.5
2002	38,892	2,436	6.3	3,433	8.8
2003	38,603	2,105	5.5	3,308	8.6
2004	38,105	2,042	5.4	3,029	7.9
2005	37,940	1,898	5.0	3,050	8.0
2006	37,790	2,084	5.5	2,866	7.6

*Wantage parliamentary constituency*
	Number on roll^1,2	Number of pupils taking free school meals³	Percentage taking free school meals	Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
1997	5,452	264	4.8	361	6.6
1998	5,567	244	4.4	428	7.7
1999	5,678	237	4.2	358	6.3
2000	5,799	235	4.1	372	6.4
2001	5,891	225	3.8	374	6.3
2002	6,056	247	4.1	392	6.5
2003	6,185	241	3.9	379	6.1
2004	6,308	268	4.2	396	6.3
2005	6,333	279	4.4	437	6.9
2006	6,356	301	4.7	423	6.7
¹ 1997 to 2002 includes dually registered pupils and excludes boarding pupils. ²From 2003 includes dually registered pupils and boarding pupils. ³Number of pupils who took a free school meal on the day of the census in January.

Volume 454: debated on Monday 11 December 2006