Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent guidance her Department has provided to (a) schools and (b) other educational institutions on food (i) labelling and (ii) allergens.

The department provides statutory guidance for schools, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions’, which makes clear that schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with allergies and have processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/allergy-guidance-for-schools.

In early years settings, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework sets the standards that all registered early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to age five. The framework is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.

The EYFS states that before a child is admitted to the setting the provider must also obtain information about any special dietary requirements, preferences and food allergies that the child has, and any special health requirements.

The EYFS signposts to the Department of Health and Social Care document ‘Example menus for early years settings in England’ which includes guidance on menu planning, food safety, managing food allergies and reading food labels, which staff preparing food will find helpful in ensuring that children are kept safe. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/658870/Early_years_menus_part_1_guidance.pdf.

The ‘Help for early years providers’ online platform, owned by the department, has a food safety page which also signposts to resources on allergies. This page is available at: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-and-welfare/food-safety#allergies. The department is also developing nutrition content for the platform which will have a section on allergies and resources such as a common allergies table.

Higher education (HE) institutions and further education institutions are autonomous and it is the responsibility of individual HE institutions to implement and adhere to relevant guidelines with regards to labelling and allergens.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) promotes its resources including information on allergen labelling and management to all food business operators including schools, nurseries, colleges, and other institutional caterers.

The FSA has published guidance relevant to schools and other educational institutions including sector specific guidance in July 2021 for new allergen labelling legislation which came into force in October 2021. Guidance for institutional caterers (including schools) has been on the FSA website since at least 2017. This has links to training courses offered by allergy charities. In September 2020, the FSA also launched free allergen training which has had over 530,000 users to date, with nearly 75,000 of these being from the education sector.