Question reference: S6W-00553
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 8 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it monitors local authority adherence to the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 and, if so, what its response is to reports of inconsistencies with menu choice across local authority education boards.
Answer
Compliance with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 is monitored by Education Scotland Health and Nutrition Inspectors who support local authority caterers to undertake a nutrient analysis of school lunch menus using appropriate software to assess compliance with the nutrient standards. They also support local authority teaching and catering staff to assess compliance with all other food and drink provision across the school day against the relevant specifications.
Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 each local authority is responsible for ensuring that they comply with the statutory duties set out in the Regulations. The Regulations are flexible enough to allow for local variations in menu design which helps to ensure that local needs and preferences can be taken into account. As such we would expect to see different menus between local authorities and between schools within a local authority area.