Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will include Previously Looked After Children in the definition of disadvantaged children, in regard to the core eligibility criteria for the Holiday Activity and Food programme.

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to eligible children during the school holidays, benefiting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn. The core purpose of the programme is to support children and young people who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) given that children from low-income households are more likely to experience food insecurity, reduced physical activity, and fewer opportunities for enriching experiences during the school holidays.

Local authorities have discretion to allocate 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for school-age children who do not meet the eligibility criteria but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF.