Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure teachers receive the necessary training to support pupils with ME/CFS.

The department engages regularly with schools on a range of issues.

Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010.

Policies should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.