Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a draft updated school food standards for public consultation; and if so, on what date.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that updated school food standards are implemented before the planned expansion of free breakfast clubs in April and free school meals in September.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on updating school food standards; and when they expect the revised standards to be published.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks of expanding free school meals in September before updated school food standards are implemented and enforced.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This means over half a million more disadvantaged children will be receiving the support they need in school to be healthy and get the most out of their education.
These meals must be compliant with the School Food Standards. To ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history, we are revising the School Food Standards and are engaging with stakeholders.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of changing the national curriculum to increase awareness of cancer prevention amongst pupils in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is important to educate people about causes and symptoms of cancer, and we are supportive of efforts to do this at an early age.
Revised relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance was published on 15 July 2025. Cancer awareness and other specific cancer-related content is included. At secondary school, as part of their studies on health protection and prevention and understanding the healthcare system, pupils will be taught the importance of taking responsibility for their own health, including regular self-examination and screening.
Schools may teach about cancer awareness in other areas of the current national curriculum. The secondary science curriculum ensures pupils are taught about non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, and the impact of lifestyle factors. In design and food technology, schools should highlight the importance of nutrition. We are developing a new national curriculum with teachers, curriculum experts, pupils and parents, which schools will start teaching from September 2028.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with colleagues in the Department for Education regarding steps taken to increase awareness of the dangers of swimming in (a) cold water, (b) open water among school-age children.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill. Swimming and water safety are compulsory elements of the PE National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. In addition, the changes made to the Government’s statutory RSHE guidance will ensure all pupils are taught about the water safety code, supporting them to be safe in different types of water.
This will help ensure all pupils are taught about the water safety code, supporting them to be safe in different types of water.
The Government is also providing a grant of up to £300,000 to deliver Inclusion 2028 – a programme which upskills teachers to deliver high quality, inclusive PE, including swimming and water safety, to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the Holiday Activities and Food Programme from returns submitted by local authorities following the end of each holiday period.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
For the holiday, activities and food (HAF) programme, the department collects data from local authorities after each delivery period, to support performance monitoring, inform policy development and support evaluation.
Data collection includes the number of children attending HAF provision, broken down by characteristics such as free school meal (FSM) eligibility, as well as the number of places available and how well providers meet the HAF framework of standards.
Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 20.4 million HAF days to children and young people in this country, providing nutritious meals and enriching activities during school holidays, benefitting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn. Over the three most recent winter, Easter and summer delivery periods, almost five million HAF days were provided. Over summer 2025, local authorities reported that over 624,000 children and young people attended the programme, of whom more than 513,000 were funded directly through HAF and over 434,000 were receiving benefits-related FSMs.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department is ensuring that early year’s provision includes learning about food, soil, biodiversity, and ecosystems.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The statutory Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS) sets the education requirements for all early years settings. The EYFS provides a curriculum framework for settings to build upon across seven areas of learning, to ensure every child has the best start in life and is prepared for school.
The department provides a range of resources to support practitioners with promoting children’s learning about the natural world around them, including the Development Matters curriculum guidance, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-matters--2.
Further resources can be found through the Help for Early Years Providers site, accessible at: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/. Practitioners may also refer to the free, quality assured climate, nature and environmental education resources on the National Education Nature Park website: https://www.educationnaturepark.org.uk/resources.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the environmental and health impacts of their School Food guidance in the context of the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission; and how she plans to respond to the Commission’s Planetary Health Diet recommendations.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever and encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating.
We are continuing our work to revise the School Food Standards and are engaging experts across the sector, including academics and nutrition professionals. We are also taking account of the emerging themes from recent research and papers as we progress the review.
We are also working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to support on the outcomes of their government Food Strategy. Additionally, schools can voluntarily follow the government buying standards
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps schools are expected to take to help ensure that pupils and families experiencing (a) furniture or (b) appliance poverty are directed to sources of support.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government’s Child Poverty Strategy, ‘Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty’, was published on 5 December 2025. It sets out the steps this government will take to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to create long-term change. The measures set out in the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty, the largest expected reduction in child poverty over any parliamentary session since comparable records began.
The government is investing in the future of our children and putting money into families' pockets, enabling them to afford the essentials that are necessary to give children what they need to learn and grow by introducing key measures such as removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit.
Furthermore, government is helping families who need support to access essential household items through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, a £1 billion fund to ensure families have a safety net when they need it, and Pride in Place Programme, which will deliver up to £5 billion in funding to 244 in-need neighbourhoods across the country. This will give communities the option to invest in measures that support families with the cost of living, which could include establishing new community shops with access to discounted food and school uniforms or directly supporting families with essential household items, such as beds and white goods.