Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the consistency of the implementation of anti-bullying guidance in schools.

Tackling and preventing bullying in schools is essential to ensure that schools can provide calm and inclusive learning environments. All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. They have the freedom to develop their own anti-bullying strategies appropriate to their environment and are held to account by Ofsted.

Ofsted’s renewed education inspection framework, which has been in use from November 2025, evaluates a school’s approach to bullying during school inspections. This is considered through the lens of the attendance and behaviour evaluation area but is also considered as part of the personal development and wellbeing and safeguarding evaluation areas.

To support schools, the department has procured for the development of a bespoke evidence-based toolkit for teachers which will guide them through approaches to tackling misbehaviour and bullying and actions to focus on prevention.