Free School Meals

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have eligibility levels for free school meals of 20 per cent. or more in local authorities with overall eligibility levels for that type of school of less than 15 per cent.; and if he will make a statement. (163314)

The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of secondary schools with free school meal eligibility of between 35 per cent. and 50 per cent. are not specialist schools; and what the estimated annual revenue cost to these schools is as a consequence of their non-specialist status. (164021)

The information requested in the first part of this question could be provided only at disproportionate cost. No information is readily available to meet the second part of this request.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children (a) were entitled to and (b) claimed free school meals in each of the last 10 years. (164243)

[holding answer 14 November 2007]: The available information is given in tables 3A, 3B and 3C of SFR30/2007 (Schools and Pupils in England, January 2007 (Final)) which can be found at

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000744/index.shtml

Information for earlier years cannot be provided within the time scale required by Parliament.

*Table A: maintained nursery and primary schools*¹*: school meal arrangements—position in January each year: 2003 to 2007 England*
	Day pupils²
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Number on roll	4,350,260	4,293,180	4,243,110	4,187,630	4,148,390
Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	731,610	741,150	717,230	670,340	658,910
Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	16.8	17.3	16.9	16.0	15.9
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed. ² Prior to 2003, ‘Day pupils’ includes all full-time 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. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown. Source: School Census

*Table B: maintained secondary schools*¹*: school meal arrangements—position in January each year: 2003 to 2007 England*
	Day pupils²
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Number on roll	3,308,490	3,326,800	3,317,590	3,309,720	3,272,480
Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	478,920	477,290	465,520	448,680	429,700
Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	14.5	14.3	14.0	13.6	13.1
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed. ² Prior to 2003, ‘Day pupils’ includes all full-time 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. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown. Source: School Census

*Table C: all special schools: school meal arrangements—position in January each year: 2003 to 2007 England*
	Day pupils¹
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Number on roll²	94,660	92,620	91,210	90,450	90,600
Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	33,430	33,100	30,690	29,410	29,110
Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals	35.3	35.7	33.6	32.5	32.1
¹ Prior to 2003, ‘Day pupils’ includes all full-time 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. ² Excludes general hospital schools. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown. Source: School Census

Volume 472: debated on Wednesday 20 February 2008