To ask the Minister of Education what steps he is taking to overcome the legislative and technical barriers preventing the delivery of auto-enrollment for Free School Meals.

My officials are working with colleagues from the Department for Communities (DfC) and the Education Authority (EA) in taking forward initiatives to streamline and simplify the application process for free school meals (FSM) in order to minimise the application requirements for families.

Agreement was reached between the EA and DfC that under a Data Sharing Agreement, FSM applications made on the basis of entitlement to Universal Credit that had been incorrectly resubmitted to EA by claimants could be sent to DfC for verification. This reduced the number of multiple resubmissions from UC claimants and has resulted in improved processing times for such UC claimants during the 2023 year.

DE officials are exploring with DfC and the EA the potential for the Digital Economy Act 2017 to enable the necessary data sharing that may further simplify the application process.

My officials are aware of a small number of local authorities in England who are currently piloting a wide variety of registration methods that seek to increase FSM uptake including an ‘opt out / right to object’ model. My officials continue to engage with the Department for Education in England, to better understand the barriers that prevent uptake of FSM, whilst also ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints, which still remain an important consideration. These include constraints around data-sharing, as well as the need for families to make a claim for free school meals to be eligible under the current process.