I propose to take Questions Nos. 630 and 631 together.
My Department has not received a written complaint in relation to the issue referred to by the Deputy.
However, as the Deputy will be aware, under Section 15 of the Education Act 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school and is therefore responsible for making decisions as to the types of activities that the school gets involved in.
Clearly there are two different issues here — the issue of commercial links between companies and schools, and the issue of food-testing in schools.
In relation to general commercial links, it is important to remember that these include a very wide range of activities. A school may be delighted to benefit from the sponsorship of the football kit by a local business or the provision of work experience opportunities for its students. Equally, a school may decide to get involved in collecting tokens for particular promotions.
Clearly, the latter is a far more sensitive issue and this is why my Department's circulars — while entrusting school authorities with deciding which activities to engage in — explicitly require them to ensure that pressure is not placed on parents to buy particular products.
My Department's concern is to strike a balance between allowing schools to benefit from positive links with businesses and protecting children and their parents from inappropriate marketing.
So, the decision as to whether to accept sponsorship, partake in promotions or engage with research is one for the Board of Management to take. And naturally, the Board should only engage in activities that are in the best interests of their students.
I have to say that I was surprised to hear that food was being tested in primary schools. Food companies have plenty of opportunities to test their products in supermarkets with the children's parents present to decide what they do and do not want their children to eat, being mindful of allergies and healthy eating objectives etc. As I mentioned at the start, my Department has not received any written complaints from parents in the schools involved, and if a parent has a difficulty with such activities they should raise the matter with the Board of Management of the school. Nonetheless, I believe that Boards should be wary of getting involved in such activities, particularly given that each child can have very different dietary requirements.
My officials have been in touch with DIT regarding this practice and have been assured that in any future activity of the Food Evaluation Centre that involves food testing by school pupils, they will in all cases request that parents give their written approval.
