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.

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

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/374850/Cyberbullying_Advice_for_Headteachers_and_School_Staff_121114.pdf

[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375420/Advice_for_Parents_on_Cyberbullying_131114.pdf

[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children

[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education