Health and Nutrition Inspectors (HNIs) are permanent staff members of Education Scotland. They are employed to monitor the fulfilment of statutory duties with the schools Health Promotion and Nutrition Act 2007 for all schools to be health-promoting and comply with nutritional regulations. Please note nutritional regulations were revised in 2020. The current guidance is available here: Healthy Eating in Schools Guidance 2020.

Deployment of HNIs on school inspections

HNIs undertake their monitoring role by joining a sample of inspections of primary, secondary and special schools across all local authorities in Scotland. If your school is going to be inspected and has a Health and Nutrition Inspector on the team, you can find information on what to expect in the following document.

PDF file: Deployment of Health and Nutrition Inspectors (HNIs) on school inspections (367 KB)

Self-evaluation of food in schools across Scotland

Education Scotland has developed a digital self-evaluation framework for food in schools across Scotland. The framework was co-created by Education Scotland with a group of local authority caterers and educators. At its heart is a set of quality indicators which will help all those involved with food in school to identify strengths in their practice and areas where further improvement is required to improve positive health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people. A collaborative approach involving all practitioners involved with food in school, using high quality evidence, is essential. The framework can now be accessed via this link: Food in Schools across Scotland.

Inspection evidence

The HNIs work closely with the Scottish Government policy team responsible for school food. Evidence from inspection is used by HNIs to provide advice to Scottish Government on the development of policy in this area for example, by using this evidence as part of the review of the school food regulations. These regulations apply to food provision across the school day. Templates are available within Food in schools across Scotland to support the collation of evidence of compliance.

As well as providing ongoing advice to Scottish Government colleagues, the HNIs support improvement and build capacity in school food provision and food education through the sharing of inspection findings with schools and local authorities.

Related links

• Search for Food, Health, and Nutrition in the National Improvement Hub to find examples of interesting practice.
• Food Education: Better Eating Better Learning: Transforming school snacks
• Nutritional Analysis Manual - A guide to demonstrating compliance with the nutritional requirements for food and drink in schools (Scotland) regulations 2020, revised and updated February 2021.
• Scottish Government: Healthy eating in schools: guidance 2020
• Better Eating Better Learning offers guidance to support schools, local authorities, caterers, procurement departments, parents, children and young people to work in partnership to make further improvements in school food and food education.
• Beyond the School Gate provides guidance for local authorities, schools, retailers, caterers and other partners on what they can do to influence the food environment around schools and support children and young people to make healthier choices.
• PDF file - Supplementary guidance on diet and nutrition for children and young people with additional support needs (383 KB)
• PDF file - Nutritional guidance for children and young people in residential care settings (496 KB)