Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel

"Risk and Redress: Preventing a Compensation Culture" Conference at Royal Lancaster Hotel, Hyde Park 17 November

At this conference Lord Adonis will congratulate the thousands of teachers and others who expertly keep millions of pupils safe on education outside the classroom every term.

The education minister Lord Adonis will issue a challenge to the providers of facilities for educational visits to establish a 'family' of accreditation schemes(kitemarks, badges). These will be based on good safety management including inspection.

Lord Adonis will also mention the guidelines on treating staff fairly which the DfES is preparing in response to school staff union concerns. These brief guidelines will remind schools and local authorities that school staff must be treated fairly when (rarely) a pupil has been injured on a visit; and that the law protects school staff who have followed their employer's guidelines against prosecution for neglect. Teachers, of course, do not get sued.

The conference will provide a forum in which Government and stakeholders can engage with each other – sharing information and promoting discussion.

 

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor, will give the

keynote speech 

Baroness Ashton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, will chair the conference

Other speakers include:

Jane Kennedy – Department of Health

Fiona Mactaggart – Home Office

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – Department for Work and Pensions

Lord Adonis – Department for Education and Skills