Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle bullying in schools.

The department has sent a clear message that bullying should never be tolerated and we are committed to supporting schools to tackle it. The department provides advice for schools, outlining their responsibilities. The advice makes clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional and mental health needs. The advice is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.

The department is providing over £2 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2023, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of hate-related bullying and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

The department is also making sure that all children in England will learn about respectful relationships, in person and online, as part of mandatory relationships, sex and health education. This includes content on the different types of bullying, the impact it has, the responsibility of bystanders, and how to get help.

The department has published ‘Respectful School Communities’, a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline, available here: https://educateagainsthate.com/resources/respectful-school-communities-self-review-signposting-tool-2/. This can combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind, including hate-based bullying.

The department is also committed to ensuring all schools should be calm, safe and supportive environments for pupils to learn and thrive in. To this end, we are investing £10 million through behaviour hubs so that schools that want and need to turn around their behaviour can work closely with schools with exemplary positive behaviour cultures, alongside a central offer of support and a taskforce of advisers, to improve their culture, and spread good practice across the country. The behaviour hubs programme includes mandatory modules on consequences, including sanctions and rewards and creating systems and social norms which are vital in enabling children to generate and maintain behavioural standards.

The department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of support in schools for victims of bullying. All schools should set clear, reasonable and proportionate expectations of pupil behaviour in line with the department’s ‘behaviour and discipline in schools’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools. It is for individual schools to develop their own best practice for managing behaviour in their school.