Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the School Food Standards.

It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating. The School Food Standards regulate the food and drink provided at lunchtime and at other times of the school day, including, for example, breakfast clubs. The School Food Standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. They ensure that pupils always have healthy options for their school lunch.

School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should provide appropriate challenge to ensure the school is meeting its obligations.

To support governors in their role around compliance, the department, along with the National Governance Association, is running a pilot online training course on school food for governors and trustees. This launched on 4 November 2024 and will run until 1 April 2025. This will help governors to improve their understanding of the standards and give governing boards confidence to hold their school leaders to account on their whole school approach to food. The department will evaluate the training programme’s reception and effectiveness in the short term.

The department’s aim is to deliver better life chances for all through a system which works for all. As part of this, as with all government programmes, we will keep our approach to school food under continued review.