Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of schools’ policies on mobile phones and learning disruption.

The department’s guidance on mobile phones in schools, published in February 2024, is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks.

​The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.

​Research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools (99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools) already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.