• ‘England for Everyone’ fund will provide holidays and trips for more than 800 families facing difficult times
• Family Holiday Charity will use the funding to arrange trips for families this year
• Will help those struggling financially, with illness, or facing isolation or bereavement

Families struggling financially, or facing illness, isolation or bereavement, will have an opportunity for a weekend break thanks to a new government fund.

More than 800 holidays and trips for families over the next few months will be funded by the £600,000 ‘England for Everyone’ fund.

The fund will support parents, carers, and young people experiencing difficult times to get away, relax and enjoy themselves on a weekend break in England.

Families who may never have had a holiday can be referred to the charity for a weekend trip and will have a choice of where they will visit. From campsites to chalets and caravans to lodges across the country, children could discover new creatures in rock pools, fly kites for the first time or build sandcastles on the beach.

Referees could include people such as social workers and teachers, and holiday vouchers would be provided to help cover transport, accommodation and food. VisitEngland is also working closely with holiday parks to include free onsite activities.

Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston said:

Holidays provide a vital opportunity for people to reset, spend quality time together and improve their mental wellbeing. But for many families taking a break can be impossible.

Following the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are helping families facing particularly tough times to have a much-needed break while supporting our brilliant tourism and hospitality sector.

Research by Family Holiday Charity has shown that short breaks can have huge benefits, with 85 percent of families finding children who had a break were going to school more regularly and 84 percent saying children were less isolated and getting more involved in their community since returning home.

The charity, which has helped more than 48,000 families since launching in 1975, has also found benefits for the tourism sector included extending the season and supporting jobs.

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said:

This partnership is a first for VisitEngland and will reach sectors of society who don’t have access to domestic holidays. We are delighted to be working with the Family Holiday Charity and delivering the ‘England for Everyone’ fund will support families facing tough times to enjoy our wonderful destinations and experiences and have a memorable holiday in England. We want everyone to be able to take a short family break and benefit from spending time together, reconnecting and recovering from the pandemic.

Kat Lee, Chief Executive, Family Holiday Charity said:

We are delighted to be partnering with DCMS and VisitEngland on this social tourism project that will see more than 800 families able to access a holiday. Access to a holiday is simply out of reach for many UK families, but this scheme will see children, mums, dads and carers able to take a holiday, some for the first time ever!

Holidays bring wellbeing and mental health benefits, and the opportunity to try new things and think differently. On holiday families make memories that help when times get tough. And families who have experienced a Family Holiday Charity break are more confident, better able to engage with learning and play a more active part in their communities.

The fund has been created by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in association with Family Holiday Charity and VisitEngland.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• The ‘England for Everyone’ fund is run in partnership with VisitEngland and the Family Holiday Charity and funded by DCMS.
• The fund will provide short breaks to families from Monday to Friday or over a weekend from Friday to Monday, who have not holidayed in four years or more. Each trip, worth up to £450, includes accommodation, with allowances towards travel and food.
• Holidays may be taken at any time for families with preschool age children or during school holidays before 5 June encompassing either the February half-term, the Easter holidays or the jubilee bank holiday and summer half-term for those with at least one child under 18.
• The Family Holiday Charity will work with registered referrers to select families most in need of a holiday as part of this activity.
• The Family Holiday Charity helps families get time away together, often for the first time ever. The charity provides UK short breaks and holidays to families facing tough times. Eligibility criteria include low income and other factors such as long-term illness, bereavement, disability, domestic abuse or additional caring responsibilities. *As well as the immediate benefits of a holiday on mental health and wellbeing, holidays have longer term benefits in how families live, learn and work together in our communities.
• VisitEngland will work with the Family Holiday Charity to evaluate the impact of the funding.

Standing on a Cornish beach with President Macron last summer, one could not help but be struck by the majesty of the ocean before us, and its importance to all our lives.

Because the nations of the world are not separated by seas and oceans – we are bound together by them.

Whatever our stage of development, whatever our system of government, the same briny waters lap at all our shores.

And we all have a duty to help them thrive.

It’s a duty the UK takes extremely seriously.

It’s why we’ve committed half a billion pounds to help developing nations protect their seas and coasts.

Why we’ve thrown a Blue Belt around 2.5 million square miles of ocean.

And why, I can announce today, the UK will be joining the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction.

Because it’s vital that we all step up and meet our obligations to the marine environment under the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

And that won’t happen unless we agree a treaty to protect the vast expanse of water

– something like 60 per cent of it –

that falls beyond the borders of any one nation.

At COP26, I stressed the need for the world to raise its ambitions with respect to our oceans.

So I’m delighted that President Macron has convened this summit.

And I hope it kicks off a year in which the world comes together in support of the seas that surround us, the flora and fauna within, and everyone around the world whose livelihoods depend on thriving, clean, and sustainable oceans.

Talks were held in the Russian Ministry of Defence in Moscow. This was the first time that the two nations’ defence ministers have met since General Shoygu visited London in 2013, and the first time a British Defence Secretary has visited Moscow since 2001.

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin also met his counterpart, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov.

Discussions come amidst a concerning build-up of Russian military forces on the borders of Ukraine. The Defence Secretary reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to de-escalating the situation and finding a diplomatic solution which respects the sovereignty of Ukraine.

During the talks, both ministers agreed the importance of the implementation of the Minsk Protocols.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace MP said:

Today I had frank and constructive talks with General Shoygu and General Gerasimov.

I listened to the assurances from General Shoygu that Russia will not invade Ukraine, and urged dialogue as a way to address any concerns that the Russian government may have.

I made clear that any invasion would have severe consequences and destabilise the security of Europe.

On arrival in Moscow, the Defence Secretary laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier in the Kremlin Wall. The memorial commemorates the millions of Soviet soldiers who gave their lives in the Second World War, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. Last year marked the 80th anniversary of the first Arctic Convoys, during which British ships helped supply the Soviet Union while it was bearing the heaviest burden of all Allied nations in the fight against Adolf Hitler.

Today’s meetings are the latest in a series of diplomatic engagements. The Defence Secretary has recently met counterparts from Sweden, Norway, Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, and Poland, as well as the NATO Secretary General in order to build a co-ordinated Western response to Russian aggression. Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary met the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday 10 February and the Prime Minister met the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 2 February and the Polish Prime Minister, Polish President and NATO Secretary General on Thursday 10 February.