Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress the Government has made on allocating funding through the Holiday Activities and Food scheme.

The Holiday Activities and Food programme are integral to our approach to provide healthy food to children over the summer. It will ensure thousands of disadvantaged children have access to healthy meals and holiday activities in summer 2020 – building on the success of the 2018 and 2019 programmes – and remaining committed to supporting children and families through the disruption caused by COVID-19.

On Monday 22 June the Department for Education published an announcement with the details of the Holiday Activities and Food programme and the areas that were successful in receiving the funding for 2020. Grant funding was allocated based on a competitive bidding process. The successful bidders and areas are:

• StreetGames (Newcastle, North East region);
• Gateshead Council (Gateshead - North East region);
• Edsential (Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Wirral - North West region);
• Spring North (Blackburn with Darwen - North West);
• Leeds Community Foundation (Leeds and Bradford - Yorkshire & the Humber region);
• Voluntary Action Sheffield (Sheffield - Yorkshire & the Humber region);
• Suffolk County Council (Suffolk - East of England region);
• Mayor’s Fund for London (Lambeth and Southwark - London);
• Tower Hamlets Local Authority (Tower Hamlets - London);
• The Romsey School (Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight - South East region).