Decision details
Department for Education Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) Programme
Decision Maker: Chief Operating Officer
Decision status: Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Purpose:
The Department for Education (DfE) have
allocated funding to all Local Authorities to run a Holiday
Activity and Food (HAF) programme throughout the Easter, Summer and
Christmas 2021 school holidays.
Local authorities are to use the funding to make arrangements for
holiday provision primarily aimed at children who are entitled to
receive benefits-related free school meals.
Further details about the HAF Programme can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/holiday-activities-and-food-programme/holiday-activities-and-food-programme-2021
The programme will be fully grant funded and therefore there is no
financial risk to the Council. Any funding not spent for this
purpose will be returned to the Council and onward to the
DfE.
A local consortium of providers who have been involved in the
Easter provision and other similar holiday schemes have submitted a
proposal and delivery plan for Summer and Christmas provision. The
consortium has a Lead Provider who will be responsible for ensuring
the DfE and our local standards are adhered to and
implemented.
The services are categorised as “light touch” according
to the Procurement Regulations 2015 and a light touch negotiated
process commenced to discuss the Summer and Christmas provision. A
number of requirements, in addition to those specified by the DfE,
have been outlined by the Council to ensure learning from the
Easter programme has been used to inform future provision
This proposal has been agreed by members of the local Holiday
Activity Steering Group who will continue to work closely with
providers to ensure the programme engages with and is accessible to
children and young people eligible for free school meals across
Bath and North East Somerset.
The Contracts Panel and Cllr Dine Romero and Cllr Richard Samuel
have also been consulted and informed of the decision.
Decision:
On behalf of the HAF Steering Group, the
Director or Public Health and Prevention is to issue a contract via
the Lead Provider to work collaboratively with a consortium of
local organisations to deliver the Holiday Activity and Food
programme in the Summer and Christmas school holidays in Bath and
North East Somerset.
Alternative options considered:
Alternative Option: Bath and North East
Somerset Council contract with individual agencies to provide
services that contribute towards the DfE requirements
This option was discounted as it may have prevented the ability to
enable local collaborative working. The programme requires support
from smaller local organisations who may not have capacity or
resources to bid or enter into a formal contractual
agreement.
The Council has agreed a robust monitoring framework which includes
the DfE requirements and our own locally agreed standards,
including safeguarding. By appointing a Lead Provider, they
will:
• Work with a consortium of providers across the local
authority to deliver the requirements. This has been facilitated by
the Council to ensure a collaborative approach
• Ensure all participating providers meet the Council’s
framework of minimum standards including safeguarding requirements
and meals that meet school food standards
• Report to the Council steering group, providing monitoring
data in the format specified by the Council
• Explore the possibility of pulling in wider support to
enhance the programme e.g. other funding
• Encourage and support the involvement of volunteers
Publication date: 17/06/2021
Date of decision: 17/06/2021