To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many recorded instances of homophobic bullying there were in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local education authority in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (263893)

We are unable to provide figures for the number of homophobic bullying incidents in either primary or secondary schools as we do not collect these data centrally.

We intend to introduce a new statutory duty on schools to record all incidents of bullying between pupils later this year, and will specifically consult on whether schools should be obliged to record homophobic bullying incidents and report these incidents to their local authority.