Westminster Hall Debate: Children with Allergies: School Safeguarding

In early July, we were delighted to see dedicated Allergy Champion Chris Bloore MP secure a Westminster Hall debate on Children with Allergies: School Safeguarding. For over an hour, the powerful debate heard contributions from members from across the benches, highlighting the need for developing stronger protections for allergic children and shining a light on the daily challenges they face.  

Opening the debate, Chris Bloore shared the moving personal story of his son’s hospitalisation for a severe allergic reaction, before highlighting that no comprehensive national framework existed to safeguard children with allergies, “leaving children vulnerable and families sometimes fearful”. 

We are grateful to Sarah Edwards MP for echoing our calls for a cross-departmental Allergy Tsar, to ensure the Government receives high quality advice on the impact of living with allergies, and Daniel Francis MP for supporting our call to improve access to allergy dietitians in each health region. Special tribute must be paid to Becky Gittins MP for her poignant speech on the social impact of allergies – and for sharing her testimony of growing up with an anaphylactic peanut allergy. 

Jodie Gosling MP spoke on the need for coherent and consistent information and advice for those living with allergy, highlighting from lived experience just how dangerous the lack of clarity is, and how isolating the discrimination allergy sufferers face can be. Following her, Ian Sollom MP drew attention to the outcome of our 2017 trial of a new model of care, and we are thankful to him for echoing our call for the Government “to roll that pilot out nationally in a bid to bring about positive change in schools and beyond.” Echoing the call for change, Neil O-Brien MP spoke of the need “to do better and to ensure that children and people of all ages feel more included in our society.” 

Responding to MPs, Stephen Morgan, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, told the chamber that it was “important that schools have a culture of inclusivity”, and that he “expect(ed) schools to do what they can to ensure that no child is unnecessarily disadvantaged or made to feel disadvantaged.” Concluding the debate, Bloore stated “the canary in the coalmine is right in front of us”, and vowed that “we can do more, and we can do better. This is not just about the life chances of our children; sometimes it is their very life itself.” 

We are grateful to all those MPs who attended and contributed, for sharing deeply personal stories that gave a human face to the importance of reforming allergy provisions in schools. Their speeches made clear the need for consistent school allergy policies, critical gaps in staff training, emergency preparedness, and care pathways. 

Looking ahead, the Schools (Allergy Safety) Bill will be returning to Parliament on September 12 and we are thankful for the hard work of Chris Bloore MP in sponsoring this vital bill.  

You can read the full text of the debate here. 

The Schools Allergy Fund, a collaborative initiative by Allergy UK, The Allergy Team and the Benedict Blythe Foundation, is addressing this urgent issue head-on by removing financial barriers that prevent schools from accessing life-saving allergy training and support.  

Schools can register their interest here.