Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with local authorities on the future of the Holiday Activities and Food programme after March 2025.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has received its overall budget and we are now working through the details of the budget settlement. Departmental budgets for 2025/26 will be confirmed in due course, including the exact funding available for this type of support for children, young people and families during the holidays.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the School Food Standards.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating. The School Food Standards regulate the food and drink provided at lunchtime and at other times of the school day, including, for example, breakfast clubs. The School Food Standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. They ensure that pupils always have healthy options for their school lunch.

School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should provide appropriate challenge to ensure the school is meeting its obligations.

To support governors in their role around compliance, the department, along with the National Governance Association, is running a pilot online training course on school food for governors and trustees. This launched on 4 November 2024 and will run until 1 April 2025. This will help governors to improve their understanding of the standards and give governing boards confidence to hold their school leaders to account on their whole school approach to food. The department will evaluate the training programme’s reception and effectiveness in the short term.

The department’s aim is to deliver better life chances for all through a system which works for all. As part of this, as with all government programmes, we will keep our approach to school food under continued review.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the lifelong loan entitlement to offer maintenance loans for remote learners.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will deliver a transformational change to the student finance system in England, by broadening access to high-quality, flexible education and training.

All courses and modules with in-person attendance that are eligible for LLE tuition funding will also be eligible for maintenance loans. This represents an expansion of the maintenance offer for part-time learners and those studying technical courses.

Eligibility and qualifying conditions for LLE funding will broadly mirror existing policy. As such, remote learners will continue to have access to tuition fee loan funding but be out of scope of the maintenance offer. However, it is government's intention that the existing exemptions will continue to apply, for example remote learners who qualify for maintenance support due to a disability.

Decisions on student finance have had to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable. The department has therefore decided to continue targeting living costs support at courses that require students to attend their institution.

The government, and the department, will keep this policy under review.

Found: Mrs Sarah Russell Perran Moon Dr Simon Opher Kirsteen Sullivan Ellie Chowns Mike Reader Yasmin Qureshi