28767 (2023). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education

28767 (2023). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education: What is the estimated total number of students who have received a free healthy school lunch under the Ka Ora Ka Ako programme since it was started in 2019?

Hon Erica Stanford: I refer the Member to the attached table, showing the estimated number of students who received a free healthy school lunch between 2019 and 2023 under the Ka Ora Ka Ako programme. While the programme trial was announced in 2019, the provision of lunches did not begin until 2020. Each year additional schools have started receiving lunches as they became ready or newly eligible as result of annual changes to the Equity Index. Since the programme began, approximately 230,000 students in 1,002 schools/kura have received lunches through the programme. This is also my written response to written parliamentary questions 28768, 29369, 28770 and 29380 (2023).