Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that early years settings and schools are aware that socket covers should not be inserted in BS 1363 sockets.

All schools and early years settings in England have a duty to keep children safe. As part of that duty we expect them to keep their health and safety policies under review and up-to-date.

Working with ‘Action for Children’ we have brought the Department of Health’s recent alert on the dangers associated with the use of electrical socket covers to the attention of early years providers in England. ‘Action for Children’ has published a notice, via the Foundation Years website, about the use of electrical socket covers in early years provision in England. This is available at: www.foundationyears.org.uk/2016/10/dfe-note-on-the-use-of-electrical-plug-socket-coversinserts-in-early-years-provision-in-england. ‘Action for Children’ has also published the information in a newsletter to early years providers.

We are currently reviewing our health and safety advice for schools, and will consider whether to include a similar reference in a future addition of this advice as part of this work.