The Government has confirmed that it has no plans to follow the lead of the British government in warning schools about mobile-phone usage.
The British government has written to every school in England, advising them to discourage pupils under 16 from using mobile phones.
It has also advised that schools near a mobile phone base station should contact the operator to ensure that its "beam of greatest intensity" does not fall across its property. It pointed out that this beam should not fall on any part of the school grounds without agreement from the school.
The Department of Education said it would not be carrying out a similar exercise, because responsibility for health and safety issues lay with the individual school authorities. "We have no plans to do this. It's up to each school authority to take such action if they feel it necessary," a spokesman for the Department said.
Earlier this year, an expert group in the UK recommended that children should only use mobile phones for essential calls.
