Vol. 504 No. 2
317 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on the recent survey of the National Parents Council which revealed that two in every five parents claim that their chil dren are being bullied at school; and his further views on the fact that 85.5 per cent of parents said they did not have a copy of the policy of their children's school on anti-bullying measure. [11329/99]
Bullying in schools is an issue of particular concern to me. I welcome the recent work done by the national parents council as a contribution to raising awareness of bullying as a form of unacceptable behaviour at school. However, in the absence of detailed consideration of the surveys methodology and findings, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage.
School management authorities are responsible for the prevention of bullying behaviour in schools and for putting in place procedures for dealing with incidences of bullying behaviour. My Department has issued guidelines to all schools to assist them in discharging their responsibilities in this regard. The guidelines are intended to assist schools in devising school based measures to prevent and deal with instances of bullying behaviour and to increase awareness of the problem among school management, staff, pupils and parents. Schools are advised that the anti-bullying code should be included as part of the school plan/policy statement and should be available to all.
Where parents have difficulty in obtaining information from schools in relation to bullying, it is open to them to raise the issue with my Department so that appropriate enquiries can be carried out.
