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School Meals: Standards

Asked by Dr Simon OpherLabourDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 16 June 2025UIN 58294

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered including water-only policies in updated school food standards.

Answered by Stephen Morgan

The department is engaging with stakeholders on revising the school food standards, to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history. Schedule 1 of the school food standards outlines the permitted drinks. These include a variety of drinks such as plain water, milk and plain soya, rice or oat drinks. Beyond the school food standards, headteachers, governors and their caterers are best placed to make decisions about their school food policies, including drinks policies. As with all aspects of the school food standards review, we will consider our approaches to drinks.

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