AQW 31597/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 19/09/2025
Answered On Date: 07/10/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail what actions his Department has taken to identify approaches, which would help to encourage a progressive and welcoming environment for young LGB&T people, as recommended in the departmentally commissioned research Post-primary school experiences of 16-21 year old people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and or transgender.

Answer:

Supporting all children and young people is key priority for the department.

As a starting point, schools should refer to the ‘Safeguarding and Child Protection in Schools’ in terms of their general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils and to determine the measures to be taken at the school with a view to protecting pupils from abuse (whether at school or elsewhere).

More specifically the Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, also requires a Board of Governors of the school to determine the measures pursued at the school to prevent, respond to and record all incidents of alleged and/or confirmed bullying type behaviour involving registered pupils.

Schools will also have in place other key policies that will form part of their overall offer of pastoral care, with support to promote a culture of whole school wellbeing available through the projects currently funded under the Joint Health and Education Emotional Wellbeing Framework in Education.

Specific support is also available from several Education Authority services in line with departmental policy.