Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Howard Stoate (Labour) on Monday, 19 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 January 2006. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 9 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Drinking Water

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make it her policy to ask each primary and secondary school to draw up a school hydration policy, setting out the measures it will take to improve access to fresh drinking water in the school, promote water awareness amongst students and encourage sustainable use of water resources.
Answer

We are aware of the importance of children drinking water during the school day and the benefits that it brings. The interactive Food in Schools Toolkit, published jointly by Department of Health and DfES, provides a wide range of guidance, resources and interactive tools to inspire and support schools in taking a whole school approach to healthy eating and drinking, including water provision. The ‘Water Provision' guidance supports schools in reviewing and improving current provision and in promoting water consumption.The Cross Departmental ““Healthy Living Blueprint””, issued to all schools, brings together all government advice and examples of best practice about healthy eating and drinking in schools. It provides schools with advice on how to improve children's approach to food and drink and exercise, and shows how developing whole school approaches can help bring about significant improvements to the health of children.Healthy School Lunches guidance, published by the DfES, contains the Secretary of State's expectation that drinking water should be available to all pupils every day, free of charge. This view is mirrored in the ‘Healthy Living Blueprint for Schools', which states that,"““all pupils should have access to drinking water at all times at a number of points around the school, preferably not from taps in the toilets. Pupils should be permitted to carry water with them and consumption encouraged both in class and during break and lunch time”” ."The School Meals Review Panel (SMRP) made a reference to drinking water in recommendation 7 of their report-Turning the Tables: ““There should be easy access to free, fresh, chilled drinking water throughout the school day (paragraph 2.32)””. The consultation closed on 31 December 2005 and officials are now collating the responses.It is the responsibility of headteachers and school's governing bodies to decide when water should be made available. We consider that they are best placed to make these decisions in their role of having responsibility of the day to day running of the school and with their knowledge of the individual circumstances of their pupils.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
441 c403-4W; 39528
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Conservation Drinking water Nutrition Standards Schools
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk