Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact on school budgets of staff remaining on sickness absence during disciplinary proceedings while schools are required to fund replacement cover.

Management of disciplinary matters and related sickness absence is a matter for employers, rather than the department.

The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 set out the high-level procedures that governing bodies in maintained schools must establish for the regulation of the conduct and discipline of school staff. Schools are advised to use the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance. This provides basic practical guidance for employers, employees and their representatives and sets out principles for handling disciplinary situations in the workplace. This guidance is available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/?articleid=2174.

The department has no responsibility for the management of sickness absence. This is part of the Burgundy Book and is an agreement between school employers and teaching unions.