Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of school holiday hunger; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing support to local authorities to help tackle school holiday hunger.

The department is investing over £200 million a year in our holiday activities and food (HAF) programme. Delivered through grants to local authorities across England, HAF provides free holiday club places to children from low-income families, providing them with enriching activities and healthy meals over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.

Last summer, the department reached over 685,000 children and young people in England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals.