Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in receipt of free school meals accessed provision through the Holiday Activities and Food Programme during the (a) Easter holiday and (b) summer holiday in 2021, by local authority.

Local authorities were asked to send reports to the department by 15 October 2021, including detailed information on their delivery of the programme to date. 131 delivery reports were received by 15 October 2021, and we have been in contact with local authorities directly to ensure the outstanding 20 are received promptly. The department is now examining these detailed individual reports and may need to clarify information with local authorities in some cases. The department will then consider the best way to share information on the programme.

In addition, as part of the financial assurance process, local authorities will complete a certificate of expenditure which will cover the 2021-22 financial year. As indicated in the grant determination letter, this will be commissioned after the upcoming Christmas school holidays and therefore this information is not currently available.

The department commissioned Ecorys UK to conduct an external evaluation of the programme. Fieldwork has taken place during and shortly after this year’s summer holidays, and we expect to publish findings in the New Year.