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Written Question
Schools: Protest
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the organising of strikes during the school day by (a) teachers, (b) parents and (c) students in connection with the Israel-Hamas war.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Children should be in school. While the department recognises young people should be able to peacefully express their views, the department does not condone missing out on their education to protest.

Missing school only disrupts lessons and adds to teachers’ workloads. The department will continue talking to the local authorities affected to offer support where needed. Any absence of this nature will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’, and parents may be given a penalty notice or prosecuted as a result. The department also expects teachers to fulfil their contractual requirements. It would be completely inappropriate for teachers to attend such protests during working hours.

Earlier this week the department wrote to schools, expressing our strong support for headteachers and local authorities in setting clear expectations that pupils should be in school and in enforcing them appropriately, including using fixed penalty notices where applicable.

It is the priority of the department that all students and young people learn in a safe and supportive environment. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to all schools and colleges on 17 October to provide advice on how to respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict in the classroom. To help schools navigate teaching about political issues, the department has also published guidance for teachers and leaders around political impartiality. Now is not the time for divisive, politically motivated rhetoric. Now is the time to do everything possible to ensure that students, staff and young people, many of whom will be personally affected by the ongoing conflict, are supported and feel safe in education settings.

The department will continue to monitor the situation closely.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 04 Jul 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

Speech Link

View all Andrew Percy (Con - Brigg and Goole) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 06 Jan 2022
Antisemitism: Bristol University

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View all Andrew Percy (Con - Brigg and Goole) contributions to the debate on: Antisemitism: Bristol University

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 06 Jan 2022
Antisemitism: Bristol University

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View all Andrew Percy (Con - Brigg and Goole) contributions to the debate on: Antisemitism: Bristol University

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 06 Jan 2022
Antisemitism: Bristol University

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View all Andrew Percy (Con - Brigg and Goole) contributions to the debate on: Antisemitism: Bristol University

Written Question
Educational Institutions: Antisemitism
Wednesday 8th December 2021

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to take steps against (a) universities and (b) other bodies receiving funding from his Department who (i) refuse to accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism and (ii) take insufficient action to protect Jewish students on campus.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

On 10 November 2021, the Office for Students (OfS) published a list of higher education (HE) providers who have adopted the definition. I am pleased to report good progress in the last year: an increase from around 30 to over 200 providers have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition. This includes the vast majority of universities and I continue to urge all providers to adopt this definition.

The government has also asked the OfS to undertake a scoping exercise, to identify providers that are reluctant to adopt the definition and find out why. The department has asked them to consider introducing mandatory reporting of antisemitic incident numbers by providers, with the aim of ensuring a robust evidence base, which the OfS can then use to effectively regulate in this area.

Adoption of the IHRA definition is only a first step towards ridding HE of antisemitism. I want to be very clear that, whilst the government considers that adoption of the definition is crucial, it is not enough on its own. That is why I will continue to work with the sector to ensure it better understands antisemitism and does more to end it.

Universities also have clear responsibilities to ensure that there is no place for antisemitism.  All HE providers should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to address hate crime, including any antisemitic incidents that are reported.

The department and I are keen to hear from Jewish groups about what more can be done to make Jewish students and staff feel safe on campus. As part of this, we intend to set up a round table in the new year, specifically focused on tackling antisemitism in HE.


Written Question
Higher Education: Private Sector
Monday 8th November 2021

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the accuracy of statistics on (a) employment and (b) further education used by private higher education providers when advertising their courses to self-funded students.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The government is clear that we expect providers to ensure they are fully complying with their consumer law obligations, including ensuring any advertisement of courses is accurate and transparent.

Where a private higher education (HE) provider chooses to register with the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator plays an important role in ensuring students are better able to exercise their consumer rights. It is an OfS registration condition that providers have due regard to relevant guidance about how to comply with consumer protection law. It is a further condition that all registered providers co-operate with the requirements of the student complaints scheme run by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, and that they make students aware of their ability to use the scheme.

In addition, the OfS aims to ensure that all students can access, succeed in, and progress from higher education by ensuring students have access to relevant information to help them make choices that are right for them, and to also ensure students will receive a baseline level of quality. Statistics about student outcomes at OfS regulated providers are included in ‘Discover Uni’, which is owned and operated by the UK higher education funding and regulatory bodies and is an official, reliable source of information to guide student choices.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published advice on consumer law for all HE providers (including those not on the OfS register), setting out its view on how the law operates to help students understand their rights and help providers treat their students fairly. This is available via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-consumer-law-advice-for-providers. The CMA has been clear that there are obligations under the law and providers must ensure they are meeting them.

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK’s independent self-regulator of advertising across all media. Its work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements that contravene its Advertising Codes. The Advertising Codes cover advertising and marketing communications, which are likely to include HE providers’ course information on websites, leaflets and posters directed at prospective students.


Written Question
Schools: Bullying
Friday 6th November 2020

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

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

Answered by Vicky Ford

The government has sent a clear message that bullying should never be tolerated and we are committed to supporting schools to tackle it. All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy, with measures to prevent all forms of bullying, and have the freedom to develop their own anti-bulling strategies and monitoring approaches, to best suit their environment.

The department provides advice for schools, which outlines schools’ responsibilities. The advice makes clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional, and mental health needs. It is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.

Where bullying is reported to the school, it is important that school staff take prompt action to support the bullied pupil and prevent the bullying from happening again. On 7 June, we announced more than £750,000 for the Diana Award, the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Anne Frank Trust in order to help hundreds of schools and colleges build relationships between pupils, boost their resilience, and continue to tackle bullying both in person and online. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/extra-mental-health-support-for-pupils-and-teachers.

We are also making sure that all children in England will learn about respectful relationships, in person and online, as part of new 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.

In our drive to tackle behaviour issues and bullying, we have strengthened teachers' power to enforce discipline and promote good behaviour. This includes giving teachers powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour which takes place outside of the school gates, and extending their searching powers so they can search for, and in certain circumstances delete, inappropriate images (or files) on electronic devices, including mobile phones.

We are investing £10 million through behaviour hubs. Schools with exemplary positive behaviour cultures can work closely with schools that want to turn around their behaviour, alongside a central offer of support and a taskforce of advisers. The aim is to improve their culture and spread good practice across the country. The first hubs are planned to launch in Spring 2021 and will run for an initial period of 3 years.

The hubs programme builds on Tom Bennett’s independent review of behaviour in schools, Creating a Culture: how school leaders can optimise behaviour (2017). In November 2018 we published Respectful School Communities, a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline. This can combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind, including sexual bullying and sexual harassment. It will help schools to identify the various elements that make up a whole school approach, consider gaps in their current practice and get further support.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 09 Jun 2020
Education Settings: Wider Opening

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 20 Jan 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

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