Pupils: Intimidation

Mr. Laurence Robertson
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he plans to provide to schools on the avoidance of the bullying of children with disabilities; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight
[holding answer 8 May 2007]: As part of the Department’s suite of guidance on prejudice-driven bullying, we recently announced that we would be producing dedicated guidance on tackling bullying related to special educational needs and disabilities. We have begun to meet with interested lobby groups and experts and hope to start work on this guidance later in the year. We intend to work closely with the Special Educational Consortium and other charities and groups with an interest in this area, drawing on current research.

In addition, the Department’s general guidance on bullying, “Don’t Suffer In Silence”, advises schools to refer to the bullying of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in their anti-bullying policies and suggests some strategies for addressing this type of bullying.