Asked by: Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all people working with young people report concerns about those people's welfare to the police.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government’s statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children', is clear that anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local authority children’s social care. If there is an immediate risk to a child, a referral should also be made to the police.
On 3 March 2015, the Government published ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ which sets out how we are tackling child sexual exploitation and is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-exploitation--2. This includes updating the statutory guidance which will reinforce what action practitioners should take if they are concerned about a child. We will also be consulting on an extension to the new ‘wilful neglect’ offence to cover children’s social care, education and elected members. This will be included in the consultation on mandatory reporting of child abuse, which we have publically committed to undertaking.