Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandating the installation of thermometers in classrooms in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 already require that, during working hours, the temperature in indoor workplaces, including schools, is reasonable. The Regulations also require that a sufficient number of thermometers are provided to enable people to determine the temperature. As thermometers are already required under existing workplace health and safety legislation, the government has no current plans to introduce additional requirements relating to their installation in classrooms.