Safeguarding children with food allergies in schools (FOI)

Request

A

Does the Government of Jersey Education Department have a policy for all fee and non-fee paying States schools ("Jersey Schools") to protect children with food allergies other than the brief mention in Conditions Required Emergency Action section the Administration of Medicines in School Policy? 

B

Is there a specific policy for safeguarding children with food and other allergies including how to deal with allergic reactions and anaphylaxis and the storage and administration of auto-adrenaline injectors and the management of food in the school setting and on organised trips outside the school? Please provide a copy or link to the policies. 

C

How many teachers and other staff at Jersey Schools receive annual training on how to manage anaphylaxis and administration of an auto-adrenalin injector? 

D

Is there a requirement for those teachers and other staff who have children in their care during the school day to receive the training set out in C above or is it voluntary as indicated in the Administration of Medicines policy? If it is voluntary how does the Education Department ensure the safety of a child who suffers anaphylaxis in the event of an allergic reaction (to food or other substance) given that a first aider in another part of the school may not be able to react quickly enough and calling emergency services could result in a life-threatening delay in the administration of an auto-adrenalin injector? 

E

How many children, and what percentage of those in Jersey Schools, have a food allergy covered by an Individual Health Care Plan? 

Response

A

The Government of Jersey’s First Aid policy is written to instruct each area including Government of Jersey schools how to assess all first aid needs, for example, if a child or adult has a known food allergy the First Aid Needs Assessment would state the training requirements to manage this and an individual Care Plan is put in place specific to those needs. The First Aid policy does not mention all allergies specifically. All Government of Jersey schools are part of the Eat Safe programme through Public Health.

Individual schools including fee paying schools may publish their own policy on their school website.

B

The individual Care Plan will cover what is required specific to each first aid need. This will include the safeguarding of children with food and other allergies including how to deal with allergic reactions and anaphylaxis and the storage and administration of auto-adrenaline injectors and the management of food in the school setting and on organised trips outside the school.

C

A total of 674 teachers and other staff within Government of Jersey schools have received training on how to manage anaphylaxis and administration of an auto-adrenalin injector.

D

Section 2 and section 4 of the First Aid Policy specifically covers the responsibility of all Government of Jersey schools to ensure the minimum number of appropriately trained First Aiders are in place. Section 6 covers how to assess the level of provision including how to identify, formalise and record what level of first aid provision is needed including HSE guidance on minimum levels of first aid provision based on staff numbers. 

The Government of Jersey First Aid Policy is available in the attached document.

First Aid Policy.pdf

E

Please see the below table which shows the total number of children in each Government of Jersey school where a Care Plan is in place for a child with a food allergy:

The Department has determined that to provide the figures fewer than five would likely breach the privacy of individuals therefore disclosure control has been applied under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Article Applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.