Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what legislation is currently in place and what further steps they are taking to protect children from cyber-bullying through the internet.

Current Acts that can be used to prosecute cyberbullying-related offences are: The Protection from Harassment Act 1997, The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, The Malicious Communications Act 1998, The Communications Act 2003 and The Defamation Act 2013.

The Government thinks that schools, parents and internet providers all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.

Through the Education Act 2011 we have given teachers greater powers to tackle cyber-bullying - via text message or the internet - by providing a specific power to search for and, if necessary, delete inappropriate images or files on electronic devices, including mobile phones

All schools must have a behaviour policy that includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying. Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.

Educating children and young people about online safety is key to tackling cyber-bullying. From September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages of the curriculum, covering primary-age children for the first time. This will empower young people to tackle cyber-bullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.

The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general, this can, and does, include work to tackle cyber-bullying.

The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Through funding provided by the Department, the Anti-Bullying Alliance has also produced specific advice on cyber-bullying for children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.

Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which brings together a range of experts across government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.

We are pleased to see that internet service providers (ISPs) have rolled out whole home filters to their customers which will help parents to keep their children safe online. The ISPs have also launched ‘Internet Matters’, a new £75 million internet safety campaign which will run over three years and will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.