Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of her Department's policies have been assessed against the family test; what steps she has taken to publish the outcome of such assessments that have been carried out; and if she will make a statement.

The family test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. The Department for Work and Pensions published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy which can be found online[1]. The Department for Education follows this guidance.

The family test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policies in line with the family test guidance.

As stated in the guidance, there is no requirement to publish family test assessments. The Department has published the outcome of such assessments on a number of occasions, including as part of the impact assessments of the Childcare Bill[2] and the Education and Adoption Bill[3].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-test-assessing-the-impact-of-policies-on-families

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-bill-impact-assessment

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-and-adoption-bill-impact-assessment