Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure the safety of teachers and pupils in schools in Fylde constituency.

Violent incidents in schools are rare, but all schools should be places of safety and learning. Education settings are designed to be secure environments with robust safeguarding frameworks. They should have policies on security measures, supported by clear guidance to develop plans for deterring attacks, keeping learners safe and implementing lockdowns when necessary.

The department has a tested incident response mechanism that allows us to support the education sector if impacted directly or indirectly by a major incident. Our primary goal is to safeguard the health and safety of children, young people and staff while minimising disruptions to education. In addition, the department has published comprehensive guidance and high-quality resources to help teachers and learners prepare for and respond to counter terrorism incidents and attacks. These resources can be found here: https://www.protectuk.police.uk/catalogue/EducationLearningandGuidance.

We also currently provide specialist pupil support in serious violence hotspots in England. Support, attend, fulfil, exceed taskforces are school-led partnerships that develop a targeted, local response to serious violence in ten areas. Interventions delivered include mentoring, social skills training and cognitive behavioural approaches. In alternative provision (AP) settings, alternative provision specialist taskforces are joined up, multi-disciplinary teams, which include youth workers, family workers and careers workers, embedded within the largest AP schools in 22 areas.