Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve support for families over the school holidays in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.

Through our Plan for Change, the government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. On 28 August 2025, the department confirmed over £600 million for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme for the next three financial years, from 2026/27. This equates to just over £200 million each year.

This multi-year commitment gives parents and providers certainty that clubs will be available over what can otherwise be an expensive holiday period, ensuring that children and young people continue to benefit from enriching holiday experiences and nutritious meals. The programme also opens up work opportunities for parents on low incomes to support their families.

The programme is delivered by all 153 local authorities in England, providing over 500,000 children per year with healthy meals and enriching activities in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.

In Easter 2025, the latest data available, there were a total of 20,282 HAF funded attendees across the North East. We do not publish figures for individual local authorities.