Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the value for money of providing (a) food through the the Holiday Activity and Food Programme, (b) a daily free meal voucher and (c) a cash equivalent for young people who qualify for free school meals.

The department’s £200 million per year funding to the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme provides vital support to children and families during the longer school holidays. The benefits for children who attend stretch far beyond the provision of meal vouchers or cash payments.

The HAF Programme enables attendees to receive healthy and nutritious meals and take part in fun, engaging activities to stay physically active. The Programme also provides the opportunity to increase attendees’ understanding of food, nutrition and other health-related issues, along with making new friends. The Programme reached more than 600,000 children last summer.

Free School Meals (FSM) is an educational entitlement and is intended to support children in term time while they are learning. Pupils do not receive FSM during the school holidays, whether through daily free meal vouchers or a cash equivalent.

For those who require extra support, the government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials.