---

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Every child must be safeguarded and safe from harm when they attend school. I remember, 15 years ago, what were called EpiPens. I had never heard of them until a parent came into school and told me about her child who had a particular allergy. We stocked EpiPens—one in each classroom, clearly labelled —and we trained the staff. I remember the staff being fearful, so we stabbed a grapefruit in those days to train ourselves. We did that on our own initiative because we understood our duty of care, but children’s lives cannot depend on individual schools taking the initiative. This must be guaranteed by government policy.

The current system, I am sorry to say, is a postcode lottery. Some children are fortunate to attend schools that are honest about what they can guarantee. Others face confusion, inconsistency and danger. Children have learned from the age that they first enter school to bring their own food to school, to every meal, and to self-administer treatment, because the adults around them are untrained and unequipped.

9 pm

Parents across this country can recount a terrifying number of near misses and mistakes, and some, of course, have suffered the greatest loss of all. Children with allergies deserve to attend school knowing that the staff have the right processes, knowledge and equipment in place to protect them. They should not have to go to school and fear for their own well-being. School should be a place where every child can live a normal life, where they are not defined by what they cannot eat but are supported by a system that understands their needs.

The UK lags behind many other countries in how we manage food allergies in schools. Children are suffering and dying as a result. It is our duty to ensure thar no more families endure such a preventable tragedy. I have not met Helen Blythe, but I am in complete awe of those parents who have suffered the loss of a child and, as a result of that loss, want to campaign to save other lives. In this case, along with others, Helen has done that.

When the noble Lord, Lord Nash, was a Minister, there was the case that he will remember of Oliver King, who had a sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 12. Oliver tragically died in the school swimming pool. His parents, like Mrs Blythe, campaigned for every school to have a defibrillator. The noble Lord, Lord Nash, sitting in his place today, met the parents on a number of occasions and started that process of ensuring that defibrillators are in schools.

The Minister has been billed to give us some important news this evening. I hope that the Minister will tell us directly how the Government are going to ensure that schools have the guidance, the policies, the resources and the training in place to make sure that no other child loses their life because of a food allergy.