Purpose

To seek cabinet approval to accept the grant
award and procure a contract for the supply and delivery of the
Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme for the period of April
2026-March 2029.
 

Decision

Cllr Ben Evans sought cabinet
approval to accept a grant award from the Department for Education
and procure a contract for the continued supply and delivery of the
Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme for the period of April
2026-March 2029.
 
Having considered all of the information,
Cabinet noted the report and
 
RESOLVED to:
 
Subject to Gloucestershire County
Council (GCC) receiving a grant determination letter from the
Department for Education (DfE) confirming that GCC shall receive
£1,655,070 per annum of Holiday Activity and Food programme
grant funding during financial years 2026/27, 2027/28 and
2028/29:

1              
Approve the acceptance of the above Holiday Activity
and Food programme grant funding.

2              
Delegate authority to the Executive Director of
Children’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member
for Children’s Safeguarding and Care to approve:

a)   
The allocation of £1,345,729 from the above
Holiday Activity and Food programme grant funding per year during
the period 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2029 to fund services
through an open procedure as described in Recommendation 3 of this
report. This will provide support to children and families in each
of Gloucestershire’s districts, on the basis set out in Annex
1 to this report and in proportion to:
 
 
i. the number
of children and young people who are eligible to receive Free
School Meals in each district;

ii.
the rurality of each district; and

iii.
the number of children and young people with an Education and
Health Care Plan (EHCP) in each district.
 
 

b)   
The allocation of 10% of the Holiday Activity and
Food programme grant funding (i.e. £165,507 per year) to
support GCC’s administration costs in providing local
coordination for the Holiday Activity and Food Programme.

c)    
The Allocation of no more than £143,834 per
annum of Holiday Activity
and Food programme grant funding, in accordance with DFE of funding
guidance, for the purpose of filling any gaps and shortfalls in
delivery that may exist in relation to the HAF
deliverables.
 
 

3.    
Delegates authority, to the Executive Director of
Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member
for Children’s Safeguarding and Care to procure services
through an open procedure.
 
If the value of any single
proposed light-touch contract for services through the above open
procedure exceeds £500,000, a separate key decision will be
sought from Cabinet or (as appropriate) an individual Cabinet
Member at the relevant time to authorise the award of such
light-touch contract for services.
In the event that the Holiday
Activity and Food programme grant funding received from the DfE is
less than the amount anticipated in Recommendation 1 above, a
separate governance decision to authorise the allocation of such
funding will be sought at the relevant time through the appropriate
decision-making route.