Debate contribution: Free School Meals Provision

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 25 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

25 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Free School Meals Provision

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5259066

Read the official Assembly record

Text

First, I welcome the opportunity to respond to the motion on free school meals provision. I start by recognising that school meals play a vital role in supporting children and young people's learning and health. A nutritionally balanced and healthy lunch helps pupils to concentrate and be in the best position to learn. That, in turn, helps with their well-being, development and educational outcomes. However, let us be clear: the benefits of a nutritious school meal extend to all pupils, irrespective of whether it is free. Currently, around 90,000 pupils are able to access a free school meal each day. That support is targeted towards those who are most in need: children and young people from low-income families, to whom that support can make a real difference.

Free school meal entitlement is largely based on households being in receipt of relevant benefits. The Education Authority actively continues to support families who choose to apply for those benefits through the free school meal application process to ensure that their children can access free school meals as easily as possible. Over the summer, my officials completed a review of the eligibility criteria for free school meals. I took the decision to raise the income threshold for those on universal credit to £15,390. For the first time, I have ensured that the threshold will automatically increase in future years in line with consumer price inflation. In making my decision, I recognised the importance of free school meals to many low-income families. I also took into account the views expressed during the public consultation, in which there was broad support for increasing access to free school meals, including universal provision. Of course, I would welcome the opportunity to introduce universal provision, but the budgetary constraints that my Department and the wider Executive face mean that that is not achievable at this stage. I listened to the Minister of Finance speak on Saturday. He talked about the Assembly and the Executive having to get real and take big decisions about raising finances. I say this to Members: while the motion, aspirational as it is in nature, no doubt has merit, Members need to get real. When Members table such a motion — a motion that would lead to costs well in excess of £150 million — it adds to the cynicism that the public have about the institutions. We know that it is not achievable —

— in the short or medium term owing to the pressures that exist. I will give way to the Member: the very Member who proposed the motion but has been absent from the Chamber for the past half an hour. I will give way to her, despite her not having been in the Chamber for the past while.

The Member has given her explanation. In response to her points, I say this to the Opposition: if you are to be taken seriously, you have to table motions that are fully costed and that highlight to the public the services that you will cut to deliver what is proposed. What is in the motion outlines —.

The Member says that that is my job. That is exactly the problem with the Opposition: they do not see it as their job to act responsibly.

Unfortunately or, indeed, fortunately —.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Opposition need to bring forward fully costed proposals. They need to act responsibly and speak to the public about the real-world consequences of motions such as this, if its proposals were to be introduced. Universal provision would mean multimillionaires in our society getting free school meals for their children. If we were to take a universal approach, it would not be targeted at the most needy. If we were in a position to make universal provision available, who would not want to give everybody everything for free? Is the priority the universal provision of free school meals? That would mean multimillionaires' children getting a free school meal, as opposed to just the most vulnerable in our society, such as children who are struggling, working families who are struggling and children with special educational needs, for whom significant investment is required. I published a plan that requires £570 million over the next five years to help children with special additional needs. If your preference is universal provision for multimillionaires as opposed to those young people, I will say this to the Opposition: you have got your priorities completely wrong.

I am not going to give way to the Member. I have given way to the Member twice.

I have given way to the Member as well. I am not going to give way again. The Opposition have done enough damage with the position that they have outlined today. Let me make some more progress on outlining my response. What cuts to the heart of the issue is the value of school meals to children, and I agree with that. However, unlike the official Opposition and some other Members, I do not have the luxury of being able to virtue-signal on it. I deal with the financial realities of the world as it is, not the world as we would like it to be. My Department and the wider education sector are under severe financial strain and face a significant budget shortfall this year. I can only make affordable changes, and, unfortunately, a significant expansion of access to free school meals is not affordable and is unlikely to be so in the time ahead. We face unavoidable cost pressures and rising service demands that the current budget does not meet. It would, therefore, be irresponsible for me as a Minister to commit to expanding access to free school meals in that financial context.

I will give way, yes.

The rise that we provided and that I took the decision on was based on the consumer price inflation index, and we linked that to the automatic increases that will take place. That is the rationale for our approach. We offer more support, rightly so, than other parts of the United Kingdom. They have indicated, however, that they wish to expand the support and, ultimately, try to get to universal provision. However, as it stands today in Northern Ireland, we provide levels of support that are not available elsewhere. I am, of course, concerned that, as other jurisdictions make progress on the issue, we will be left behind. I highlight to Members that, if we are going to do this, it will require additional resources, and that has implications for the current services that we provide. It is not unreasonable for me to ask those who advocate it this question: what would you do if you were in my position? What priority would you place on universal free school meals in comparison with the many other pressures that exist in the Department of Education? The official Opposition can, of course, table aspirational motions such as this, and we can all support and agree with the sentiment that is behind them, but, as Minister, I must ensure that any policy changes are financially sustainable and practically deliverable. Unfortunately, the proposals in the Opposition motion are neither. I am fully aware of the evolving nature of free school meal entitlement in England, Scotland and Wales, and I have spoken to the approach that they are taking and where I want us to get to. However, as other Members mentioned during the debate, the financial reality is stark. As a result of the Education Authority having an overcommitment in excess of £280 million this year on inescapable and pre-committed pressures, the resources are simply not available to me to expand access to free school meals. Today's motion and a number of Members referenced the school holiday food grant scheme, and, similarly, the issues that I have highlighted pertain to that. The motion asks the:

"Minister of Education to work with the Minister of Finance"

to develop the plan. I am happy to work with the Finance Minister. However, I will point colleagues, including those in his party, to the comments that the Finance Minister made only last weekend about the financial pressures that face the Executive. We should be honest with the public about the financial choices that need to be made and about the realities that we in the Department of Education have to deal with. I will continue to prioritise those who require support, but the first priority has always been children with special educational needs. They are my priority. Universal provision for multimillionaires' kids and families is not my priority. It may be the priority and aspiration for others in the House, but it is not mine.

1,447 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification