Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools, (c) sixth form colleges and (d) pupil referral units on dealing with (i) racist bullying, (ii) homophobic bullying, (iii) gender-based bullying and (iv) sexual exploitation.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government has sent a clear message to schools that all forms of bullying, for whatever reason, are absolutely unacceptable and should not tolerated. All schools are required, by law, to have a behaviour policy with measures to address all forms of bullying. Schools are free to develop their own anti-bullying strategies but they are held clearly to account for their effectiveness through Ofsted.
We have issued specific advice[1] to schools on preventing and tackling bullying in which we link to national organisations such as the Anti-Bullying Alliance, who can provide specialist advice to schools to tackle specific types of bullying, such as racist, homophobic and gender based bullying. We issued a leaflet about bullying which outlined schools’ responsibilities to make appropriate provision for a bullied child’s social, emotional and mental health needs, and issued case studies on how good schools manage bullying[2]. We also published two pieces of advice, one on helping teachers[3] to guard themselves against cyberbullying and the second for parents[4] to help keep their children safe from cyberbullying. Teachers, as well as pupils, deserve to feel safe and free from bullying.
We have issued statutory guidance for teachers, Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)[5] and Keeping Children Safe in Education (2014)[6], which sets out what schools must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils, including in relation to sexual exploitation.
We are also ensuring that children are better educated about the dangers of the internet, including bullying. From this term children are now learning about internet safety as part of the new national curriculum, and Safer Internet Day is widely promoted each year.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/managing-behaviour-and-bullying-in-schools-case-studies
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children
[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people under the age of 18 in (a) the UK, (b) England and Wales, (c) London, (d) each London borough and (e) Streatham constituency have been enrolled at Pupil Referral Units in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of such children have achieved five or more GCSEs.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Information on the number of pupils enrolled in pupil referral units in January 2014 in England and each local authority is published in the schools, pupils and their characteristics statistical first release[1].
Information on the number of pupils in pupil referral units at the end of key stage 4 achieving five or more GCSEs including equivalents is published in the 2012/13 GCSE statistical first release[2].
The Department for Education produces statistics on England only. The responsibility for education statistics in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales lies with each devolved administration.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014 (National, Local Authority and Regional figures: Table 7b)
[2] www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2012-to-2013-revised (National figures: Table 3a; Local Authority and regional figures: Table P1)