Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to make enrichment activities, including residential trips, (a) affordable and (b) accessible for children on free school meals in Yeovil constituency.

The government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people across England can access a variety of enrichment opportunities at school as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity.

A new Enrichment Framework will be published this academic year. It will set out benchmarks to help schools and colleges plan high-quality enrichment more strategically, with case studies and signposting to tools and resources. The framework will support schools to provide accessible and inclusive enrichment opportunities to those less likely to participate, such as pupils on free school meals.

We are also working with the Department of Culture Media and Sport to deliver a £22.5 million programme to create tailored enrichment offers in up to 400 schools over 3 years, with a particular focus on underserved pupils, and will confirm the schools which will be involved in due course.