SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF

That this House recognises the invaluable work of the UK's more than half a million school support staff, including teaching and classroom assistants, school business managers, catering and cleaning staff, IT, HR and finance staff, facilities and maintenance staff, librarians, technicians and caretakers; notes the findings of a recent survey by UNISON, which represents 250,000 school support staff across the UK, which reveals that in the last 12 months 52 per cent of school support staff have experienced stress, anxiety or depression as they struggle to cope with their workloads while 53 per cent of teaching assistants have experienced physical violence at school; urges the Government to protect future funding of all schools so that their pay and other terms and conditions are not targeted for cuts; further notes that school support staff are unfairly forced to work on term-time contracts, while teachers working alongside them are not; and calls for the establishment of a national workload initiative that produces recommendations for schools on reducing workload pressures on support staff.