Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 January to Question 101203, on Latex: Allergies, if he will place a copy of the Expert Advisory Group on Allergy's December 2025 minutes in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Terms of Reference for the Expert Advisory Group on Allergy, which is overseen and supported by external stakeholders, states that the meetings are confidential. Therefore, the meeting minutes are not shared publicly.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of school allergy-management policies.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.
We intend to consult later this year on revised statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’. This will seek views from schools, parents, health professionals, and other stakeholders on proposals to strengthen how schools meet their duties, including improvements to allergy safety and broader medical condition management. Our aim is to ensure that every child can access education safely and confidently, regardless of their health needs or allergy.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance her Department has issued to airports and transport authorities on allergy safety in public spaces, specifically latex allergy.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Food Standards Agency works with businesses and consumers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to improve allergen management and information, including offering free training and running awareness campaigns. It has recently published new guidance to help people with allergies eat out safely. The guidance sets out how businesses can provide clear allergen information, encourage communication about allergens between staff and consumers, and ensure that a consumer with allergies receives the right meal.
We would also encourage passengers travelling with a severe allergy to carry their medication with them in case of emergency, and it is recommended that they notify staff throughout their journey of their allergy. Guidance on travelling with an allergy is available from organisations such as Anaphylaxis UK or from the NHS.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with airports on allergy safety in public spaces.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Food Standards Agency works with businesses and consumers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to improve allergen management and information, including offering free training and running awareness campaigns. It has recently published new guidance to help people with allergies eat out safely. The guidance sets out how businesses can provide clear allergen information, encourage communication about allergens between staff and consumers, and ensure that a consumer with allergies receives the right meal.
We would also encourage passengers travelling with a severe allergy to carry their medication with them in case of emergency, and it is recommended that they notify staff throughout their journey of their allergy. Guidance on travelling with an allergy is available from organisations such as Anaphylaxis UK or from the NHS.
Asked by: Becky Gittins (Labour - Clwyd East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she will publish the forthcoming consultation on proposals relating to school allergy safety.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The government has committed to reviewing the statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3. We intend to engage with stakeholders on a range of reforms to the way schools support pupils with medical conditions, including allergies, before we consult on revised guidance in due course.
Our aim is to ensure that schools are well equipped to support all pupils with medical conditions as part of our wider ambition to create a more inclusive education system.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve allergy care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Expert Advisory Group on Allergy (EAGA), co-chaired by the Department and the National Allergy Strategy Group, meets regularly to bring together stakeholders across the Government, the National Health Service, voluntary organisations, professional bodies, and patient representative groups, to consider how allergy care and support could be improved. The purpose of the EAGA is to inform policymaking, and to identify priorities in relation to the holistic care of people with allergies. The EAGA last met on 3 December2025.
In July 2025, the Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency licensed a new adrenaline nasal spray, EURneffy, for use in the emergency treatment of anaphylaxis. The Government welcomes the approval of needle free delivery methods of adrenaline, recognising the potential to benefit to those who suffer from allergies.
More widely, there are a number of policies outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan which should have a positive impact on care for patients with allergy. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of technology will all support people to manage allergies closer to home.
Neighbourhood Health Services will be organised around the needs of their patients. The plan will create joined-up working across hospitals and into community settings with multi-disciplinary teams who can provide wrap-around support services to people with allergies or other long-term conditions.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of measures in the Rhode Island Latex Gloves Safety Act 2024 to help prevent latex allergy harm in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with a range of stakeholders across the Government, the National Health Service, voluntary organisations, and patient representative groups to consider how allergy care and support could be improved.
The Expert Advisory Group on Allergy met most recently on 3 December and continues to bring together key stakeholders to inform policymaking and identify priorities in relation to the holistic care of people with allergies.
In terms of the use of gloves for medical purposes, the NHS purchases examination and surgical gloves through NHS Supply Chain’s two national frameworks and, ultimately, it is the choice of NHS trusts which gloves they wish to procure. Regarding examination gloves, latex was once the most commonly used glove, but nitrile, latex-free, gloves are now the most common choice. There are also ‘specialist examination gloves’ available, which aim to provide a reduction in allergy irritation.
Surgical glove purchase decisions are generally more clinically lead, and the choice of manufacturer and glove is usually made by the surgeon or consultant. There are latex and latex-free options available via the Surgical Glove Framework.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the availability and quality of data held by Integrated Care Boards on the prevalence of clinically diagnosed allergic conditions and the specialist allergy workforce in their local areas; and what consideration has he given to the potential merits of establishing a National Allergy Register, embedded within the planned Single Patient Record in improving patient safety and reducing regional inequalities in allergy care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In conducting health needs assessments to inform their commissioning decisions, integrated care boards (ICBs) will have access to a wide range of data sources, including public health data, hospital statistics, primary care data, and social care metrics.
NHS England is working with the UK Fatal Anaphylaxis Register (UKFAR) to develop a mechanism for sharing relevant patient safety anaphylaxis incidents, including the reporting of anaphylaxis in hospitals. The aim will be for the UKFAR to extract and share patient safety incidents reported to the national databases, the National Reporting and Learning System and Learn from Patient Safety Events, relating to severe allergic reactions. Work has been progressing on this.
The National Allergy Strategy Group, an external group of stakeholders, is developing a UK National Allergy Strategy 2025-2035. The Department will carefully consider and respond to it when we receive it next year.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when draft updated statutory guidance on supporting pupils with medical conditions will be published.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has committed to ensuring that schools are equipped to support pupils with medical conditions effectively and inclusively. The current statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions,’ will be updated to reflect best practice and recent developments.
We intend to consult later this year on revised guidance. This consultation will seek views from schools, parents, health professionals, and other stakeholders on proposals to strengthen how schools meet their duties, including improvements to allergy safety and broader medical condition management.
Our aim is to ensure that every child can access education safely and confidently, regardless of their health needs.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to prioritise (1) dermatology, (2) allergy, and (3) immunology, as clinical specialties within future modern service frameworks.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and will then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery.
The Government will consider clinical specialities for future waves of modern service frameworks, including allergy, dermatology, which includes chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), and immunology. The criteria for determining other conditions for future modern service frameworks will be based on disease burden, care variation, economic impact, and where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity.
The Department recognises the potential benefits of virtual clinics in improving access to specialist care for conditions like CSU. A central part of our 10-Year Health Plan is moving care closer to home, and we recognise that we need to do this while retaining access to specialist support. Trusts should provide the infrastructure and resources to facilitate virtual consultations, but this should not replace face-to-face care where it is more appropriate, dependent on clinical need, or preferred by individual patients.
NHS England’s service specification for specialised dermatology services for adults and children is designed to reduce regional disparities in care for CSU by setting consistent national standards for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. The specification ensures that all patients, regardless of location, have access to evidence-based interventions and specialist expertise, including advanced therapies where clinically appropriate. The specification addresses historical variations in service provision and supports equitable access across integrated care systems. This approach helps to improve outcomes for patients with CSU and ensures a more uniform level of care throughout England.
Additionally, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme is working to improve capacity and waiting times through its established Further Faster programme. This programme brings together hospital trust clinicians and operational teams with the challenge of collectively going ‘further and faster’ to transform patient pathways, reduce unnecessary follow-up outpatient appointments, and improve access and waiting times for patients.
A Further Faster handbook for dermatology has been produced, to share best practice and support National Health Service dermatology teams to reduce the number of Did Not Attend appointments, reduce unnecessary follow ups and, where appropriate, reduce the number of outpatient appointments by booking patients straight to tests, helping to free up capacity for patients in need of specialist dermatology services.