News Tonight

It seems that after damning remarks by Judith Hackitt, Head of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), over the health and safety laws being operationalised in a large number of schools and councils, appropriate action is finally being taken. As per reports, the Department for Education in collaboration with the HSE is planning to draft fresh guidelines both for the parents and school teachers in England, thereby allowing children to go on school trips, a move that would ensure exposure to them to the outer world.

Consequently, the long 150-page health and safety charter has been replaced by a short eight-page draft to streamline the existing procedure for health and safety practices for young children.

It was believed that owing to fear of litigation and unnecessary risk for the children, a large number of education trips were being intermingled in the long and cumbersome procedure of parent's approval.

With this new draft, a single consent form will be signed by the parents in the very beginning rather than before every single trip, to speed up the process.

Confirming the news, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, said it was a "more common-sense approach to health and safety" to remove prevalent red-tapism in the system.

Moreover, Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: "There is no reason - and never was - why children should be prevented from going on school trips by over-enthusiastic misinterpretation of rules".