Mr Jamie Reed – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Jamie Reed on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training schemes his Department has in place to enable teachers to support children who have type one diabetes.

Edward Timpson

The training of school staff to support pupils with medical conditions is a matter for schools. However, the Department for Education fully expects them to be aware of and understand the needs of pupils with medical conditions such as diabetes, and to put arrangements in place to provide effective support. This should include ensuring that school staff receive suitable training.

From September 2014, there will be a new duty, (introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014), on governing bodies of maintained schools (and proprietors of academies) to make arrangements to support pupils at school with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance. The guidance (upon which we have consulted publicly) will set out the requirements on schools to support children with medical conditions, which we would expect them to apply to conditions like diabetes. The guidance will set out expectations in respect of staff training.