Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what records his Department holds on sexual offences in schools.
‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ is the Department’s statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and is kept under review. It sets out that all safeguarding concerns, discussions and decisions made should be recorded in writing by the school, and where appropriate, referred to children’s social care and or the police. The Department does not hold records on sexual offences in schools.
The guidance sets out how to deal with allegations that a pupil has been abused by a teacher, other member of staff or peer. It provides detailed guidance on how to manage reports of peer on peer sexual violence or sexual harassment, including those that result in a criminal conviction.
This guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2, where parts 1, 4 and 5 refer to safeguarding, child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment issues.