Agenda and decisions

Salford City Council - Record of Decision

I Paul Dennett, City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the City Council Constitution do hereby approve the content and planned approach of the Holiday Food and Activity Programme grant for 2021/22.

The Reasons are:

The issue of ‘Holiday Hunger’ has been significantly increasing over the last decade, with many charities reporting that the pressure on food banks has doubled during school holiday periods.  Children who would usually be entitled to free school meals are not able to access them during the school holidays.   There is some evidence to suggest that many children are regularly skipping meals which has a detrimental impact upon their behavior and cognitive development.  Many families in Salford are forced to face the choice of heating their home or feeding their children, and there is some evidence that parents in such situations skip meals to provide for their children.  These issues have been further exacerbated due to the Corona Virus pandemic, as schools have been closed for extensive periods of time, or classes or year groups have been required to self-isolate due to localised outbreaks within schools, as well as due to the significant economic impact of the pandemic of families

Salford has received £1.314 million to provide holiday activities and food for children eligible for Free School Meals under the Holiday Food and Activity Programme grant.  The proposal is to deliver the scheme through the existing Healthy Holiday partnership which is made up of local providers who have delivered similar holiday schemes for the city over the previous 5-10 years, alongside the provision of small grants scheme delivered through CVS.  There will be additional specialist provision for children with disabilities and for children from the Jewish community.  The scheme will be delivered within guidelines issued by the Department for Education.

Options considered and rejected were:

Going out to tender to deliver the whole scheme through one outsourced provider – this was rejected as we already an existing partnership of local holiday activity scheme providers as well as internal school catering providers

Assessment of Risk:

• Ensuring there are enough providers to deliver the appropriate number of places on the scheme
• Ensuring providers are able to deliver the scheme in line with the quality standards, as outlined in their applications

The source of funding is: Holiday Food and Activity Programme Grant.

Legal Advice obtained from the Shared Legal Service.

Financial Advice obtained from Strategic Finance.

Procurement Advice obtained Procurement Team.

HR Advice obtained: N/A

Climate Change Advice obtained: N/A

The following documents have been used to assist the decision process:

Government Guidance – Holiday activities and food programme 2021.

Holiday activities and food programme 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Contact Officer: Angela Eden                

Telephone number: 0161 793 3520

-        This decision is subject to consideration for briefing purposes by the Lead Member for Children’s Services and Young People’s Services.

-        The Lead Member is supportive of the decision.

-        The appropriate scrutiny to  ...  view the full decision text for item 5a

10:00am on Wednesday 23^rd June 2021, venue to be confirmed.