Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of assaults on teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure staff safety in classrooms.

Teachers should not be subjected to any form of abuse simply for doing their jobs and any form of violence in school is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated. We will work with the sector to make clear that abuse against teachers will not be tolerated and, while the department expects schools to take immediate and robust action if incidents of violence occur, any decision on how to sanction the pupil involved is a matter for the school.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education is now compulsory and aims to put in place the building blocks needed for positive and safe relationships of all kinds, including how to properly handle conflict.

Schools have a duty and a responsibility to protect pupils and staff. The government supports them with a range of guidance to help them fulfil their responsibilities, including advice on health and safety, school security and targeted advice on gangs and youth violence. More information on work-related violence can be found in guidance from the Health and Safety Executive at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/violence/.

The department does not hold the requested information centrally on the numbers of assaults on teachers and school staff.