Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2017 to Question 60976, if her Department will gather data on the number of (a) school teachers and (b) education sector workers who have been on leave of absence from work due to mental illness in each year since 2010.

Responsibility for the mental health and wellbeing of all staff in schools is primarily a matter for local employers. Accordingly, all school governing bodies and local authorities need to ensure that they have in place appropriate mechanisms to identify and address the causes of mental health absence and are providing the right support to individuals to guard against the loss of staff working days where this is possible. It is important that head teachers and governing bodies look closely at tackling an issue that will inevitably have an impact on children’s education.

The Government believes that the annual School Workforce Census captures sufficient information regarding the sickness absences of teachers. We trust head teachers, governors, and academy trusts to look after the welfare of their staff and ensure they have the support they need.