AQW 35129/22-27
Mrs Michelle Guy
Alliance Party
Lagan Valley
Tabled Date: 10/11/2025
Answered On Date: 21/11/2025
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Education for his assessment of any impact that price increases to school meals will have on children who are just outside the threshold for free school meals.
Answer:
In taking its decision to raise the price of a school meal for those not entitled to free school meals, the Education Authority (EA) recognised that children and young people having access to a nutritious lunch positively impacted both their educational and health outcomes. The EA acknowledged that if a child is no longer able to access a healthy lunch, it could result in a negative impact on these outcomes for any such children. However, a family not entitled to free school meals retains the choice of whether to purchase a school meal or to make their own arrangements, such as providing a packed lunch. To support parents in this, the Public Health Agency (PHA) publication “Are you packing a healthy lunch?” provides advice and guidance to parents to ensure their child is able to access an affordable, healthy and nutritionally balanced packed lunch. Consequently, if a family decides not to pay for a school meal, the availability of this guidance on preparing a healthy packed lunch means that all parents should be able to ensure that children are able to access an affordable, healthy lunch, either through the canteen or a packed lunch, without it having an adverse impact on their educational and health outcomes. The PHA publication is available at: https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/are-you-packing-healthy-lunch-english-and-irish-translation.
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