Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many incidents of racism were reported in schools in (a) England, (b) Essex, (c) Tendring and (d) Clacton constituency in (i) 2017 and (ii) 2018.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Schools are not required to report centrally on racist incidents or to publish figures. Schools have the freedom to develop their own approaches for monitoring behaviour, including racist incidents, and to exercise their own judgement as to what will work best for their pupils and the communities they serve. They are required to publish a behaviour policy that outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and to prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils, including racist bullying, and are held to account by Ofsted. Where schools feel that an incident might constitute a crime, guidance makes it clear that they should report it to the police.