Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to make the free period product scheme compulsory for secondary schools in England.
Answered by Vicky Ford
On 20 January 2020, the department launched a new scheme which makes free period products available for state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England. The scheme remained in operation during partial school and college closures, and these organisations are still able to order a range of period products and distribute them to learners.
This scheme is in place to ensure that no learner misses out on education due to their period, and we continue to work with our delivery partner, phs, to encourage engagement with the scheme. Schools and colleges should have period products available should learners need them, and they may choose to order products through this scheme or through an alternative route.
Each eligible organisation has been allocated a budget for the scheme in 2020 based on 35% of the number of learners whose legal gender is female and who, based on age, are likely to have started their period. 35% is an assumed take-up rate, reflecting the fact that not all learners will have a need for products all of the time. This mirrors the assumed take-up rate used in the scheme to provide learners in Scotland with access to free period products. The total amount spent through the scheme will depend on the value of period products ordered by schools and colleges.
We are continuing to monitor the scheme closely and we will make information available about any extensions or changes to the scheme in due course.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the Government's plans to provide free sanitary products in secondary schools and colleges from September 2019.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
No-one should be held back from reaching their potential because of their gender or background. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Spring Statement on 13 March 2019 that the Department for Education will lead a scheme to provide access to free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges across England. On 16 April 2019, I announced that funding would be extended to cover need in primary schools and that national roll-out would take place in early 2020.
The department published an Invitation to Tender for the Period Products scheme on 15 June 2019, and we intend to award this contract in Autumn 2019. We are also working with stakeholders to develop guidance that will support institutions in embedding this scheme.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2019 to Question 234252 on Pupils: Sanitary Protection, if he will publish the Government's timetable for the provision of free sanitary products in primary schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
No one should be held back from reaching their potential because of their gender or background. That is why my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Spring Statement on 13 March 2019 that the Department for Education will lead a scheme to provide access to free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges in England. The scheme will be rolled out during the next academic year. As the scheme develops, we will also consider providing free sanitary products in primary schools.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2019 to Question 234252 on Pupils: Sanitary Protection, what specific options his Department will consider for supporting primary school children in relation to period poverty.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
No one should be held back from reaching their potential because of their gender or background. That is why my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Spring Statement on 13 March 2019 that the Department for Education will lead a scheme to provide access to free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges in England. The scheme will be rolled out during the next academic year. As the scheme develops, we will also consider providing free sanitary products in primary schools.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Spring Statement 2019, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing every secondary school age female with a reusable menstrual cup.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
No one should be held back from reaching their potential because of their gender or background. That is why my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Spring Statement on 13 March 2019 that the Department for Education will lead a scheme to provide access to free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges in England. We are committed to encouraging the use of sustainable products where possible and will work with stakeholders to explore whether this can be integrated into the scheme.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the support that schools provide to girls who are menstruating.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Pupil and Parent Carer Omnibus Survey between July and August 2018 includes questions on the provision of sanitary products for girls in schools. The results of this survey will be published shortly.
The government has put in place a series of arrangements to support girls in school who are menstruating. For example, the current statutory guidance for Sex and Relationships Education encourages schools to make arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation, including requests for sanitary protection.
We are now making Relationships Education compulsory in all primary schools, Relationships and Sex Education compulsory in all secondary schools and Health Education compulsory in all primary and secondary state-funded schools. We are currently consulting on the draft guidance for these subjects which reiterates that schools should make arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation and sets out that puberty should be covered before onset as part of Health Education.
Schools have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products available if they identify this as a barrier to attendance.
As a government, we are also providing over £1.6 million through the Tampon Tax Fund for a project distributing sanitary products to vulnerable young women and girls in need in England.
In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with medical conditions and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others to follow. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
This guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life. It is clear that pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government is taking steps to ensure that menstrual wellbeing is part of the national school curriculum; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The current Sex and Relationship Education Guidance 2000 sets out at 2.8 that schools should make adequate and sensitive arrangements to help pupils cope with menstruation and with requests for sanitary protection.
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 places a duty on the Secretary of State for Education to make Relationships Education, in primary schools, and Relationships and Sex Education, in secondary schools, compulsory in all schools. The Act provides a power for the Secretary of State to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), or elements therein, mandatory in all schools. The decision on PSHE is subject to careful consideration.
The Department recently conducted an engagement exercise to seek evidence on what should be included in these subjects. The Government will develop the regulations and statutory guidance for these subjects for public consultation. These subjects will continue to ensure that pupils are taught about menstruation, complementing what is already included in the National Curriculum for science.