Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to schools to ensure that students and staff are able to (a) identify potential victims of female genital mutilation and (b) deal with such cases sensitively and appropriately.

The government’s statutory safeguarding guidance for schools, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, outlines the reporting procedures for female genital mutilation, along with other forms of abuse. All school staff should receive safeguarding training at induction and that this should be updated regularly.

The Department for Education recently consulted on strengthening that guidance. We expect to publish our response to the consultation shortly.