Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered the potential merits of introducing a maximum safe temperature for schools.

The government’s position is that schools should remain open wherever it is safe, allowing as many pupils as possible to attend, rather than applying a fixed maximum temperature for closure.

There are a number of practical considerations associated with introducing a specific legal working temperature for schools. These include determining how temperature would be measured consistently across rooms within a school, as well as between schools, and recognising that any fixed threshold could have a disproportionate impact due to variations in building design and location.

Responsible bodies must make decisions based on the suitability of their buildings and mitigations for the impact of heat, ensuring the health, safety and welfare of pupils and staff. Under workplace regulations, temperatures must be reasonable, and leaders should regularly assess risks and take appropriate action during heat.

Attendance is vital for learning, wellbeing and safeguarding, and absence can disproportionately affect disadvantaged pupils and families, and during a heatwave leave children exposed to similar or worse temperatures than those in schools.