Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help protect teachers from assaults by (a) pupils and (b) parents.

No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence or abuse in the workplace. The department will always support teachers to ensure they can work in safe and calm classrooms. All school employers, including trusts, have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

Every pupil deserves to learn and staff deserve to work in safe, calm classrooms. The government will back schools in delivering this.

The government is determined to understand the causes of poor behaviour. The department has already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.

Since 2021, the Behaviour Hubs programme has also offered support to schools that want to improve pupil behaviour and create calm, safe and supportive environments.