§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many(a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils in England are (i) eligible for and (ii) take up free school meals, broken down by ethnic group. [161910]
§ Mr. Stephen Twigg[holding answer 18 March 2004]: The latest available information on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals broken down by ethnicity was published on 25 September 2003 in the statistical volume Statistics of Education, Schools in England 2003, Table 50, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The table is also available on the statistics section of the DfES website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ rsgatewav/DB/VOL/v000417/index.shtml
The available information on the take up of free school meals is limited to school level aggregates that cannot be broken down by ethnic group.
629W
Pupils of compulsory school age and above Maintained Secondary2 Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals3 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals4 Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total White 168,522 168,791 337,313 12.2 12.4 12.3 White British 160,221 160,961 321,182 12.0 12.2 12.1 Irish 1,173 1,275 2,448 18.3 18.8 18.5 Traveller of Irish heritage 260 260 520 42.0 48.2 44.9 Any other White background 6,508 5,908 12,416 20.1 18.9 19.5 Gypsy/Roma 360 387 747 49.8 46.7 48.1 Mixed 7,628 8,360 15,988 24.5 24.9 24.7 White and Black Caribbean 3,398 3,765 7,163 30.4 30.5 30.5 White and Black African 658 740 1,398 25.2 26.7 26.0 White and Asian 1,001 1,107 2,108 16.1 17.2 16.7 Any other mixed background 2,571 2,748 5,319 23.0 22.8 22.9 Asian 30,235 29,994 60,229 29.2 29.7 29.4 Indian 4,788 4,686 9,474 12.0 12.0 12.0 Pakistani 15,049 14,142 29,191 38.3 38.2 38.3 Bangladeshi 8,260 9,211 17,471 56.7 58.8 57.8 Any other Asian background 2,138 1,955 4,093 21.8 21.0 21.4 Black 17,284 17,687 34,971 33.7 33.0 33.3 Black Caribbean 6,371 6,502 12,873 28.5 27.4 27.9 Black African 8,715 9,089 17,804 39.4 38.9 39.2 Any other Black background 2,198 2,096 4,294 32.0 31.9 31.9 Chinese 627 623 1,250 10.3 10.5 10.4 Any other ethnic group 4,711 4,191 8,902 35.9 35.6 35.8 Classified 229,007 229,646 458,653 14.5 14.7 14.6 Unclassified5 10,538 9,589 20,127 12.4 12.6 12.5 All Pupils1 239,545 239,235 478,780 14.4 14.6 14.5 1Pupils of compulsory school age and above. 2 includes middle schools as deemed. 3 Excludes dually registered pupils and includes boarders. Free school meal statistics shown here may not match with those shown in tables 13, 14 and 15 due to difference in coverage. 4 Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils in each ethnic group. 5Information was not sought or refused
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent by each local education authority on free school meal provision in(a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the latest year for which figures are available. [162076]
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 18 March 2004]: My Department does not collect this information.
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the joint exercise by his Department and the Food Standards Agency into nutritional standards in schools will be complete. [162094]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggThe jointly funded research exercise between the Department for Education and Skills and the Food Standards Agency is still underway. The results will be published late spring 2004 and will inform future policy decisions.
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of parents whose children are receiving free school meals who supplement the meal with additional money or food. [162095]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggThe Department for Education and Skills does not collect data on whether parents of children who are receiving free school meals supplement the meal with additional money or food.