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Written question asked by Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour) on Tuesday, 1 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 October 2019 (named day). It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Monday, 7 October 2019 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Schools: Uniforms

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has he made of the financial effect on low-income families of the cost of a school uniform.

Answer

It is for the governing body of a school (or in the case of academies, the academy trust) to decide whether there should be a school uniform, what it will be and how it should be sourced. To support them to do this the department issues best practice guidance which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.

This makes clear that we expect schools to ensure uniform costs are reasonable. Our guidance clearly states that uniform items should be easily available for parents to purchase and schools should keep compulsory branded items to a minimum. It also states that schools should avoid single-supplier contracts, but where schools do choose to enter into such contracts, they should be subject to a regular competitive tendering process.

No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to a school and this Government has announced its plan to put the current guidance on a statutory footing at the earliest opportunity.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
292980
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Costs Low incomes Schools Uniforms
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk