Partners


Monitoring compliance FAQs

These are questions that we frequently answer about compliance with the standards and who is responsible for which aspect of the standards.

Who will monitor whether or not schools are complying with the new standards for school food?

The School Food Regulations (2007) are mandatory, and schools are legally obliged to comply. All maintained primary, secondary and special schools in England need to provide evidence to show that they are compliant with the current school food regulations. The Ofsted inspection framework, which began in September 2005, expects schools to present evidence about their general approach to food and healthier eating, as well as more specifically about the standards for school lunches. In part C of the Self Evaluation Form (SEF), the section on information about compliance with statutory requirements includes a direct question (No.17) on compliance with the school food standards. Schools will need to confirm whether they are meeting the requirements in full, in part, or not at all. Depending on the answer given, inspectors may wish to discuss this with the school. The inspector could ask for evidence to support this claim.

There are other organisations that may also have a role in monitoring compliance with the standards. These include Trading Standards, Environmental Health and catering companies/local authorities who carry out audits and inspections on compliance in their schools.

The Trust has developed an Audits and Inspections toolkit that can be used by schools and caterers to evaluate the evidence of compliance that they have available against the recommended minimum, and compile a recommended minimum set of evidence to demonstrate compliance with the food-based and nutrient-based standards. There is more information about the toolkit here:
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/measuringcompliance/auditsandinspections

Who is legally responsible for ensuring the catering service in my school is compliant with the Regulations? Our catering is provided by the Local Authority – does this mean that the responsibility lies with them?

The requirement to comply with the school food standards is set out in Section 114A of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, as amended by Section 86 of the Educations and Inspections Act 2006. This states that where food and drink is provided by the local authority or the governing body, they must ensure that the relevant regulations are complied with.

Where the catering budget has been delegated to the school (which is the case in all secondary schools and most primary schools in England), the school governors are responsible for ensuring that the school food standards are met. Schools can choose to buy into catering services, and where the local authority or a private catering company provides catering services, it is likely that they will carry out the necessary menu planning and nutrient analysis to check and demonstrate that the school food standards have been met. However, roles and responsibilities will vary depending on the nature of the catering service, and you should refer to the contract or service level agreement (SLA) to clarify the situation at your school.

Where the catering budget has not been delegated to the school (as is the case with a minority of primary schools), the local authority retains the responsibility for ensuring the standards for school lunches are met. However, it is important to note that even in these cases, where the school provides or arranges additional food provision (e.g. at breakfast clubs, tuck shops or after school clubs) the governors will be responsible for ensuring that the standards for food other than lunches are met.

I am worried that we have not yet met the final food-based and nutrient-based standards in full – what should I do?

The School Food Regulations are mandatory. Where a school or catering service is not compliant with the standards after the mandatory deadline, the expectation of inspectors is that they would provide evidence that they are “working toward compliance” in a systematic way. This would involve demonstrating a phased approach to meeting both the final food-based and nutrient-based standards, based on a whole school approach. Evidence of working toward the standards should be provided through a record of actions taken to address the shortfalls in compliance and the result of these actions. Inspectors may or may not have a view on the actions chosen or the quality of the outcomes (this will depend on their training), but schools that are working toward compliance should be able to provide:

  • At least two successive iterations of the menu cycle
  • Associated nutrient analyses, over a reasonably short period of time (e.g. monthly, half-termly or, at a minimum, termly)
  • Menus and nutrient analysis that are seen to be approaching compliance

Why has the Trust developed an Audits and Inspections toolkit?

The Trust has received a number of enquiries from schools and catering providers, asking what information they should produce to demonstrate compliance with both the food-based and nutrient-based standards. The Audits and Inspections toolkit was developed in response to these enquiries, to outline the recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the food-based and nutrient-based standards. It includes a checklist for schools and caterers to evaluate the evidence that they have available against this recommended minimum set. If the recommended minimum evidence is not available, the toolkit contains details of further support and guidance.

The Audits and Inspections toolkit can be downloaded from:
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/measuringcompliance/auditsandinspections

Why are there two separate toolkits now available? Which one should we use, and how are they different?

There are two versions of the Audits and Inspections toolkit now available – one for primary and special schools (and their catering providers) and one for secondary schools (and their catering providers). The recommended minimum evidence of compliance and the checklist included in both versions of the toolkit are the same.
The toolkit includes example menu cycles and other examples of evidence (e.g. outputs from nutrient analysis software packages), and these generally look different for primary schools and for secondary schools. Separate toolkits were therefore produced to enable each type of school to use a toolkit with example evidence that was more likely to resemble the information produced for their school.

Who can use the toolkit?

The toolkit can be used by people within schools with responsibility for food provision (e.g. Head teachers or senior management leads for school food) to check that evidence of compliance with the food-based and nutrient-based standards is available. As food in different outlets is often provided by different catering providers, it is important that someone within school co-ordinates food provision to ensure that the school food standards are met across all outlets.

The toolkit can also be used by catering providers to ensure that the recommended minimum evidence of compliance is available for the outlets for which they provide catering services.

Can the toolkit be used by caterers as well as schools?

Yes, we would encourage caterers providing services at lunchtime and at other times of the school day to use the toolkit to ensure that the recommended minimum evidence is available for the services they provide. The toolkit contains tools such as paper checklists (which are also available as standalone editable documents that can be downloaded from the website). These checklists can be used to check food provided at lunchtime and at other times against the food-based standards, to check that these standards are met, and to provide evidence of compliance with the food-based standards.
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/measuringcompliance/auditsandinspections

What evidence of compliance should caterers produce?

Recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the food-based and nutrient-based standards is defined in the Audits and Inspections toolkit:
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/measuringcompliance/auditsandinspections

Final food-based standards for school lunches
Recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the final food-based standards for school lunches comprises a complete written lunchtime menu cycle, and written evidence that the menu cycle has been evaluated against the final food-based standards for school lunches, using one of the following options:

Nutrient-based standards for school lunches
Recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the nutrient-based standards is a graph and table from nutrient analysis software

  • The graph and table should demonstrate the nutrient content of an average school lunch within the menu cycle (from 1-4 weeks in length)
  • The nutrient analysis should include all food and drink (except extra bread) available as part of lunch provision including main meals, hot and cold ‘light bite’ options, sandwiches, desserts and drinks
  • For secondary schools, where food provided at mid-morning break is considered part of lunch provision (e.g. ‘grab and go’ meals) details of these items should be included in the nutrient analysis
  • The table and/or graph should specify the standards used in the nutrient analysis (e.g. mixed sex secondary school standards, secondary girls standards) to demonstrate that the correct standards have been used.
  • Details of planned provision mix should be available, and should be representative of provision within the school
  • It is recommended that standard recipes and product specifications are also available

Food-based standards for all food other than lunches
Minimum recommended evidence of compliance with the food-based standards for all food other than lunches comprises written details of the food and drink provided at each outlet operating throughout the school day, and written evidence that planned food provision has been evaluated against the final food-based standards for school lunches, using one of the following options:

Should caterers send evidence of compliance to every school they provide catering services to?

In the Audits and Inspections toolkit, it states that it is good practice for evidence of compliance to be available at the school. This ensures that schools can use the information to check compliance with the food-based standards across all outlets (including the ones that they provide themselves).

We would therefore recommend that menus and other evidence of compliance (for lunchtime services and any other services provided within the school) are sent to schools each time a new menu cycle is introduced (generally twice per year). This information could be sent electronically, which would reduce print costs, enable schools to use evidence of compliance as a marketing tool (e.g. on their website) and may be more time efficient than sending individual copies of information to schools when they request it.

Do caterers need to produce individual evidence (e.g. charts from nutrient analysis software) for each school we provide catering services for?

The school food standards allow nutrient analysis to be carried out for a group of schools, provided the schools have a similar age and sex profile (e.g. are all single sex secondary schools), the same menu and similar provision mix.

Where menu planning and nutrient analysis has been carried out for a group of schools, the evidence of compliance for that menu should be available for each school within the group. There is no requirement that individual analyses should be available for each school within the group.

How often should the toolkit be completed?

This will depend how often food provision within the school is changed. Schools should have available evidence to show how current food provision meets the school food standards. When new lunchtime menu cycles are introduced, the evidence of compliance that corresponds to this menu should be collated. Where food services are provided at times other than lunch, providers should be asked for details of food provision and evidence of evaluation against the food-based standards when new menus are introduced.

Where the food-based and/or nutrient-based standards have not been fully met, it would be appropriate to provide evidence of the actions taken to address the shortfalls in compliance on a more regular basis. The information in the Audits and Inspections toolkit states that to demonstrate that a school is working toward compliance, a school should have available at least two successive iterations of the menu cycle, and associated nutrient analyses, over a reasonable short period of time (e.g. monthly, half-termly or at a minimum, termly).

Why does recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the nutrient-based standards include both a graph and a table?

Most menu planning and nutrient analysis software packages produce a variety of reports to demonstrate how the nutrient content of an average school lunch compares with the nutrient-based standards. Charts using green and red bars provide a clear visual picture of which standards have been met, and may be more easily understood and more engaging to parents and other groups than tables. However, tables provide additional information (e.g. listing which nutrient-based standards have been used in the analysis) not included within the graph. Therefore we would recommend that tables and charts are both available to demonstrate that the nutrient-based standards have been met.

Why does recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the food-based standards include evidence of evaluation? Isn’t the menu cycle sufficient as evidence that the food-based standards have been met?

Recommended minimum evidence of compliance with the food-based standards includes full details of the food available (e.g. as a menu or list of items) and evidence of evaluation against the food-based standards. This evaluation can be carried out using a paper checklist (included within the toolkit), the online School Food Checklist tool, or written evaluation by a Nutritionist, Dietitian or experienced caterer.

Catering providers are expected to plan their menu cycles to meet the food-based standards, but it is not always possible to determine by looking at a menu cycle if each of the food-based standards are met, as this depends on factors such as cooking methods. Providing evidence of evaluation ensures that anyone who is interested in understanding if food provision is compliant can see that the menu has been planned to meet the food-based standards, and how each standard has been met.

Using a checklist tool also enables the catering provider to double check each of the food-based standards when they are planning or altering menu cycles to ensure that compliance is maintained.

The Trust recommends that food provision should be co-ordinated throughout the school day to ensure compliance, and actively monitored – what does this mean in practice?

Three of the food-based standards (restrictions on provision of deep-fried foods, meat products and starchy foods cooked in fat or oil) apply across the school day. As schools often have outlets in place that are run by different food providers, it is important that provision of food across these outlets is organised to ensure that these restrictions are complied with.

We strongly recommend that evidence of compliance with the standards is produced and is available within school for each outlet that operates across the school day. A nominated person within the school (e.g. the senior management lead for food) can then be given responsibility for checking this information at regular intervals (e.g. when new menus are introduced) to ensure that each of the standards are met.

Where catering budgets have been delegated, it is the governors that are responsible for compliance with the school food standards. It is therefore vital that they are kept fully informed about the degree of compliance with the food-based and nutrient-based standards. This could be achieved by ensuring that evidence of compliance is given to governors on a regular basis, and shared at governor meetings.

The Audits and Inspections toolkit provides a tool that schools can use to ensure that they have recommended minimum evidence available within school to demonstrate compliance. This can be downloaded from:
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/measuringcompliance/auditsandinspections


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