Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to raise awareness of schools of their duty to protect and enable pupils with medical conditions.

The government recognises the importance of supporting pupils at school with medical conditions. Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a duty that requires governing boards to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. Most schools manage these issues well and take their responsibilities towards pupils with such conditions seriously, making sure that the medical needs of their pupils are being met.

The department works with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to raise awareness of the duty, and recently promoted it through the department’s social media channels.

Governing boards should ensure that schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions that is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies.

This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.