Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of local authorities piloting community eligibility, or open access, for the Holiday Activities and Food programme in more deprived areas.

The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to children and young people from low-income families during the school holidays, benefiting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn.

Local authorities and their providers have flexibility in how they deliver provision to best serve the needs of young people in their area. The department’s published HAF guidance encourages all local authorities to have a varied mix of provision that caters for different ages and interests, including through collaboration with relevant local organisations. We are aware that several local authorities are utilising different delivery models for HAF to better suit the needs and interests of teenagers, including the HAF Plus model, which features an App

There have been several successful pilots within the HAF programme in collaboration with participating local authorities to further test what works in practice and develop innovative approaches to supporting children and young people We will continue to consider potential future pilots.