Mr Adrian Sanders – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Adrian Sanders on 2014-03-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the capital costs incurred by schools as a result of the implementation of universal infant free school meals; and whether the capital funding provided by his Department to schools to date covers such costs.

Mr David Laws

The Department for Education consulted with a number of local authorities and schools in the autumn, in order to assess the potential capital needs to meet the new universal infant free school meal (UIFSM) entitlement. Circumstances differ between schools, and between authorities, but those discussions gave us an assessment of the range of likely costs.

Based on those discussions, we believe the £150 million of capital funding announced last December is an appropriate figure to support schools and authorities in meeting the new UIFSM entitlement. We know that many schools and authorities are still in the process of considering the best way of delivering this. That is why we are supplementing this capital support with the package of implementation support measures announced on 6 March, in order to offer advice and guidance to schools and local authorities that need assistance in implementing the policy.