Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure schools are equipped to teach fraud prevention skills.

Schools can teach pupils about fraud prevention and online safety through personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE). The PSHE Association's non-statutory programme of study, which references to online safety, is here: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/curriculum-and-resources/resources/programme-study-pshe-education-key-stages-1%E2%80%935.

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 grants power to the Secretary of State for Education to make PSHE, or elements therein, mandatory in all schools. Teaching about online safety will be considered as part of this process. The Department is intending to launch a consultation on the draft regulations and statutory guidance shortly, and will say more about the implementation timetable at that point.

Financial matters are also taught through citizenship studies. The subject is designed to provide the skill to help young people understand how to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions. For example in Key Stage 3, pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk; and at Key Stage 4, they are taught income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent. The issue of fraud is taught at various levels, and pupils gain the knowledge of identifying and managing the risks. The full programme for study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.