National Allergy Strategy Group

Professor Adam Fox Chair – National Allergy Strategy Group (NASG)

The past few months have been exciting ones for the NASG. Since a change of leadership over the summer, we took the opportunity to update the Terms of Reference, as this had not changed since the inception of the NASG in 2001 and needed to reflect the current issues impacting allergy sufferers – whilst previously the focus for lobbying was exclusively around NHS service provision this needed to expand across a range of areas such as food labelling, allergy management in school as well as key areas such as primary care education.

We have successfully completed this role, which also open the doors for potential new core member organisations to join us in our work and this is an area we can now actively explore. We have worked closely with partners such as the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, producing a joint briefing for MPs in advance of the

Parliamentary debates on food labelling and allergy leadership in government that took place on 15th May. Full details of these can be found https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=PNo_jUdF4X8 Read the transcript https://hansard.parliament.uk/ commons/2023-05-15/debates/56CD8E04F2BC-41CA-ADE5-943A63CE7ECE/ FoodLabellingAndAllergies

We have been making important progress during our regular meetings with DHSC and our proposal for an Expert Advisory Group on Allergy, co-chaired by NASG and DHSC has been well received. We are also exploring fundraising options to support the development of a National Allergy Strategy. Please do let me know if you would like to be more involved in our work.