Holiday Activities and Food Programme

(asked on 26th January 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) in (a) providing value for money and (b) reaching the most deprived households.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 5th February 2024

The department’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme is targeted at disadvantaged families on the lowest incomes. The department knows that these children are less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, are more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health, and are more likely to experience social isolation. The programme is targeted primarily towards children who receive benefits-related free school meals (FSM). This can include children from families where parents are working on low incomes and are in receipt of Universal Credit. While the department asks local authorities to focus the majority of the funding on FSM children, they also have flexibility to use up to 15% of their funding to support other children and families that align with the local authorities’ own priorities.

Based on reporting from local authorities, over 680,000 children and young people attended the holiday activities and food programme in the 2023 summer holidays. Of these participating children, over 560,000 were funded directly by the HAF programme and over 460,000 were receiving benefits-related FSM. The reports showed that over 10,000 clubs, events or organised activities operated across the country over the summer.

HAF is a voluntary programme for eligible children, and families can therefore choose whether or not their children attend. The department is pleased that the programme reached so many children last summer.

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