Schools: Food

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51682, on Schools: Food, if he will set out a timetable for the (a) delivery of the planned update of the School Food Standards and (b) publication of linked guidance to school caterers; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 25th February 2021

Due to the priority of responding to the COVID-19 outbreak and the pressures on schools that this presents, and considering the robustness of the existing school food standards, the government will not be taking further action during the course of the COVID-19 outbreak on updating the school food standards.

We have robust school food standards set in legislation. These standards require school caterers to serve healthy and nutritious food and drinks which make sure that school pupils get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day.

I wrote to schools in October 2020 to thank them for the hard work on getting their meals services up and running in the autumn term, supporting all children with healthy food as well as to remind them of the importance of the school food standards. The guidance in relation to free school meals during the COVID-19 outbreak can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.

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