Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the contribution of the Holidays and Activities Fund (a) nationally and (b) in York.

Since 2022, the department has invested over £200 million each year in free holiday club places for children from low-income families, through the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, with all 153 local authorities in England delivering during the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.

The HAF programme supports disadvantaged children and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things and improving socialisation.

Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 15.6 million HAF days to children and young people in this country. Across the 2023/24 academic year, almost five million HAF days were provided during winter, Easter, and summer delivery.

Over summer 2024, local authorities reported that over 628,000 children and young people attended the HAF programme. Of these participating children, over 511,000 were funded directly by the HAF programme and over 433,000 were receiving benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The reports showed that over 9,700 clubs, events or organised activities operated across the country over the summer.

Over Easter 2024, local authorities reported that over 377,000 children attended the programme, of which over 324,000 were funded directly by the HAF programme and over 276,000 were receiving benefits-related FSM.

Based on reporting data published on York local authority’s website, over 4,700 children attended the programme during HAF delivery periods in 2023. New data that will include numbers for Easter, summer and Christmas 2024 should be published by the local authority later this year.