Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) national and (b) mandatory Code of Practice to tackle bullying in schools.

All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying.

The department has issued guidance to schools on how to prevent and respond to bullying as part of their overall behaviour policy. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.

The department is establishing up to 90 new regional improvement in standards and excellence Attendance and Behaviour Hubs, which will focus on supporting senior leaders to develop safe, supportive school cultures with high expectations for attendance and behaviour, including using data to identify and address areas of concern.

In addition to this, the department has engaged with charities, academics, parents and young people, to understand the issues around bullying. We will use that input to inform ways of testing practice that can be shared through hubs.