Written question asked by Andrew Snowden (Conservative) on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 13 November 2025. It was answered by Josh MacAlister (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 November 2025 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Voluntary Work: Insurance and Vetting

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of covering the cost of (a) insurance and (b) DBS checks for employers taking on volunteer workers.

Answer: Keeping children safe could not be more important to this government, and schools and colleges as employers, play a critical role in this.

We support them to do this through our robust safeguarding framework, ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which is the statutory guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

This includes robust safer recruitment procedures which are vital to deterring and preventing individuals who are unsuitable to work with children from securing employment or volunteering opportunities in schools and colleges.

Secondary information