Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has confirmed that the Coalition Government is making free school meals available for all infant school children and disadvantaged college students from September 2014.

The policy, announced at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in September, is confirmed in the Government's Autumn Statement.

As part of the Autumn Statement funding of £450m in 2014-15 and £635m in 2015-16 will be made available to the Department for Education to fund this commitment. This is new money into the Department for Education's budget. We are also making £150m of capital available to ensure that schools can build new kitchens or increase dining capacity where necessary.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said:

"Early on I made it very clear that universal free school meals would be my personal priority in this Autumn Statement and I'm proud that we are now delivering it. From the start of the next school year, every single infant school pupil will be able to sit to down to a free school lunch.

"Every child deserves the best possible start in life, and at the same time we are doing all we can to help ease the pressure on household budgets. This not only encourages positive eating habits and helps improve concentration and performance in the classroom, but this will also mean significant savings for families.

"Providing universal free school meals will help give every child the future they deserve, building a stronger economy and a fairer society."

The Facts

School Food Plan:

Universal free school meals for primary school pupils were a key recommendation in a recent review of school food produced independently for the Department for Education. The School Food Plan, published by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent in July this year, recommended that the Government embark on a phased roll out of free school meals for all children in all primary schools. The School Food Plan presented evidence that this would lead to positive improvements in health, attainment and social cohesion, and help families with the cost of living:

· The average school meal costs £437 per child per year

· Many children on low incomes are not eligible for free school meals - approximately four in 10 children who are living in poverty

Attainment (in pilot areas):

· The students were found to be on average two months ahead of their peers elsewhere.

· Around 2% more children reached target levels in Maths and English at Key Stage 1; while at Key Stage 2 the impact on achievement of between 3% and 5% was a bigger improvement than the 3.6% boost that followed the introduction of a compulsory literacy hour in 1998.

· Academic improvements were most marked among children from less affluent families.

Health (in pilot areas):

· There is a real need to address health problems that are linked to a poor diet - almost 20% of children are obese by the time they leave primary school.

· We need to address this problem from a very young age, evidence clearly shows that childhood eating habits stay with you for life.

· A common misconception is that a packed lunch is healthier than a school meal. In fact only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food.

· Pilots in Newham and Durham showed a 23% increase in the number of children eating vegetables at lunch and an 18% drop in crisps.

Easing the pressure on household budgets

· Extending free school meals to all infant school pupils will help ease the pressure on family budgets - the average school meal costs £437, meaning a significant saving to parents.

· Universal provision for children up to seven would also ensure that those on low incomes but not eligible for FSM receive a hot meal - there are around 700,000 children (from all age groups) living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.

Better for all children

Feed back from the pilots also suggested that the provision of free school meals to all children helped to create a sense of cohesion within the school. There are a number of ways in which free schools meals for all could contribute to this:

· it would remove concerns of stigmatisation of children who receive free school meals because of their parents financial situation - research has shown that some children do not currently claim a free lunch because of teasing, bullying or fear of stigma

· a nutritious lunch improves concentration, which in turn has a positive impact on classroom behaviour

· it changes the culture of a division between those children who eat a packed lunch separately from those eating a school meal

Are you the parent or grandparent of a child at infant school - say thank you with a donation

Liberal Democrat MEP for the East Midlands Bill Newton Dunn has launched a scathing attack on UKIP's sexist and patronising approach to women, following comments made by UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall over Nick Clegg's proposals to update the system of parental leave.

Nuttall, UKIP's Deputy Leader, claimed that "new mums can hardly breast-feed - as everyone knows is best - if they've gone back to work after a fortnight leaving dad in charge."

Currently fathers have less right to parental leave than mothers but under Clegg's proposals, both parents would have the right to choose whether to share parental leave.

Bill Newton Dunn commented:

"Nick Clegg's proposals will let women and men decide for themselves how to divide up parental leave. Individual parents know what is best for their own situation and so we shouldn't deny them the right to choose.

"Nuttall's attitudes are straight out of the Victorian era. Perhaps that's no surprise, as his comments on breast-feeding show he doesn't know anything about 20^th century inventions such as the breast pump or the fridge.

"Since Godfrey Bloom quit as a UKIP MEP there seems to have been a vacancy for blatant sexism at the top of the party. Clearly Paul Nuttall is filling it with glee."

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable has announced today that the British Business Bank will be given £250m for new programmes to help small businesses grow.

The intent to set up a British Business Bank was announced by Vince Cable at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in September 2012 with £1bn of new funds to get money flowing to small businesses as fast as possible to help them expand.

This latest cash boost will support a range of new innovative interventions including capital support for new businesses.

Liberal Democrats in Government are committed to helping small business in order to boost growth and rebalance the economy.

The British Business Bank will be based in Sheffield.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

"Liberal Democrats are building a stronger economy in a fairer society enabling everyone to get on in life.

"Small businesses are working hard to fuel our recovery and help us build a stronger economy.

"I am determined that we do all we can to help companies that have struggled to get the investment they need. Investment that means they can employ those extra people, take on that new order, and buy new equipment.

"The British Business Bank will give smaller companies who have struggled to get loans in the past easier access to millions of pounds of cash to grow and create more jobs."

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

"The British Business Bank is the second bank this Government has set up since 2010 and is focused on helping SMEs grow.

"It is a new long-term institution which is helping to create more competition in the banking sector and give access to finance to businesses who are currently struggling with high street banks, to get the cash they need to invest in their future growth.

"Since I announced this initiative more than 10,000 businesses have already been helped and this new money will help it do more of that. The British Business Bank is fixing a big long term problem in our banking system and it is set to unlock up to £10bn of finance over the next five years to help small and medium sized businesses grow

.

.

The Facts

1) The British Business Bank is a key element of the government's strategy to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, grow and finance a business.

2) The Business Bank is set up as an economic development bank, to support economic growth by creating more effective and efficient finance markets for viable smaller businesses in the UK.

3) By bringing existing and new initiatives together the Bank will manage a coherent and comprehensive portfolio of support for UK businesses. Consolidating access to finance schemes within one institution with the financial freedom to reallocate resources between schemes will enable public money to be utilised most effectively.

4) The Bank works with the market to address market weaknesses bringing together public and private sector funds.

5) Over £600m of lending and investments now supported on an annualised basis.

6) 8,000 businesses supported in the year to June 2013 as a result of Business Bank programmes.

7) The Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme (EFG) facilitated £86.4m of drawn-down loans in Q3 2013, which is up 17% on the previous year and the highest level since 2010. We have also expanded the scope of EFG which for the first time supports the provision of business-to-business trade credit, principally to firms in the construction sector who lack the track-record to obtain the finance they need. Over 2000 businesses have been provided with credit facilities in excess of £12m.

8) The Bank's £300m Investment Programme made its first two commitments on 6 November 2013, with total investment of £45m being made into two funds targeting high-growth potential SMEs. These investments will unlock up to £125m with private sector contribution.

9) The Business Bank's success will not be measured by the scale of its own resources and investments, but by the aggregate level of funds unlocked and a more diverse, competitive landscape in finance markets for SMEs.