To ask the Minister of Education whether he will commission research to establish the current prevalence of bullying in schools to provide a baseline to measure interventions.

I fully recognise that it would be beneficial to complete a new externally commission research study in order to gather valuable, up to date data on the nature and prevalence of bullying type behaviour. Such a study would help support the Department’s understanding of the profile of pupils involved in Bullying Type Behaviour (BTB), to quantify the impact, identify challenges and emerging issues in relation to bullying type behaviour, and to highlight best practice in addressing BTB in schools.

I will consider the scope to commission this research within the context of the Department’s overall final budget allocation.