Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether additional holiday club places will be made available to working parents in summer 2020.

On 23 June, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, confirmed that from 4 July, all providers running holiday clubs and activities for children will be able to reopen over the summer holidays. The department has published two pieces of guidance about community activities, holiday and after-school clubs, as well as other out-of-school provision for children over the age of 5.

The department has published guidance for the sector on the protective measures they should follow to ensure they operate as safely as possible, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

The department has also published guidance for parents on how to minimise the spread of the virus if they choose to send their children to activities over the summer, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-parents-and-carers-of-children-attending-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

In addition, the department is funding the Holiday Activities and Food programme. This is integral to our approach to provide healthy food and activities to children over the summer. On 22 June, we announced 17 local authority areas that will benefit from the programme this summer, providing thousands of children with access to healthy meals and enriching activities, and will build on the success of the 2018 and 2019 programmes.