Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Department will take steps to encourage second-hand uniform shops and uniform swap schemes.

The Department commissioned the Cost of School Uniform report in 2015 which found the average total expenditure on school uniform for the 2014/15 school year was £212.88.

The Government is supporting the Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Private Members’ Bill to enable us to put our guidance on the cost of school uniform on a statutory footing. The Department’s existing guidance on cost considerations will form the basis for the new statutory guidance.

Second-hand uniform and swap schemes can increase both affordability and sustainability of school uniform. The Government would therefore like to see second-hand school uniform made available for parents at all schools to acquire from the school directly or from a local, established, scheme.