To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of policies in place in schools in Northern Ireland to tackle bullying. (119507)

Since April 2003 all grant-aided schools have been required to have measures in place to deal with bullying behaviour. The Department of Education has issued guidance to schools on how to deal with bullying behaviour and this has been supplemented by materials and advice issued through the local Anti-Bullying Forum.

Inspections of pastoral care arrangements in schools include an assessment of anti-bullying measures and if improvements can be made schools are advised at the time.

A research report on the scale and nature of bullying in schools will be published later this year. That will allow for a comparison with a similar study published in 2002 and the identification of any change.