Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the initiative for schools to stop giving homework, to help reduce the incidence of teenage mental illness.

It is right that schools look at how and when they set homework to take account of their individual circumstances and best support pupils to achieve.

Homework is an important part of a child’s education. There is no statutory obligation for schools to set homework. The government does not dictate how much homework children should have to do at any age.

The amount of time children spend on homework, and the type of homework set, varies between schools and depends on a number of factors including the ages of the pupils and their levels of ability. We expect schools to take into account the health and well-being of their pupils at all times, and they have a duty to do so.