To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of procedures to evacuate pupils from school buildings in an emergency. (146217)

We do not make such an assessment but schools must have contingency evacuation procedures in place for fire risks and we advise them to build on these for other emergencies such as floods. We also worked recently with the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat in the production of guidance on evacuation and shelter which includes information for schools, for whom we also maintain a website on emergency planning.