(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Baroness Hussein-Ece
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour experienced by women and girls in educational settings.
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Smith of Malvern) (Lab)
My Lords, sexual abuse in any form is abhorrent, and tackling it is a top priority for this Government. The Department for Education and the Office for Students assess levels of sexual harassment, violence and inappropriate behaviour through surveys of pupils, students and staff. Results, combined with national surveys such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales, suggest that young women are particularly at risk, which is why the Government’s VAWG strategy focuses particularly on young people.
Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)
I thank the Minister for her response and welcome the action that she has set out. As she said, the Office for Students survey revealed that one in four students who responded, mainly young women, reported experiencing sexual harassment, including rape, attempted rape and unwanted touching, and we know that many more incidents go unreported. Is the Minister confident that, with the measures that she set out, all colleges and universities will consistently tackle sexual harassment—for example, by creating safe and anonymous reporting systems—and, importantly, tackle the culture of harassment itself by ensuring that there is a whole-institution policy approach, with clear leadership and resources for victims? How will there be accountability to ensure that these measures are upheld?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The noble Baroness identifies the shocking level of sexual abuse in higher education, which is why it is important that the Office for Students introduced new conditions last August and put in place guidance to support higher education providers precisely to implement robust measures to prevent and address sexual misconduct, including, as the noble Baroness says, clear reporting procedures, staff and student training, transparent investigations, and a ban on non-disclosure agreements in harassment cases. Those steps are aimed at creating safer campus environments and improving institutional accountability.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Non-Afl)
My Lords, is the Expect Respect educational toolkit being used in all schools throughout the country, and higher education places, are people who use it being properly trained in how to use it, and is there any feedback on whether it is a success and how it is doing and whether pupils and students find it the right way to help them deal with this problem?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
I have to say I am not sure about the specific toolkit that the noble Baroness references, but last year we produced new guidance in respect of relationships, sex and health education, and we will be supporting that with additional training and support for teachers.
Baroness Bousted (Lab)
My Lords, in 2017 the National Education Union published, with UK Feminista, a report on girls’ experiences of sexual harassment in schools, called “It’s Just Everywhere”. The report found that over a third of girls experienced sexual harassment at school, a quarter experienced unwanted physical touching of a sexual nature, and over a quarter of secondary teachers did not feel confident in tackling a sexist incident. Does the Minister therefore agree that the Government need to emphasise secondary teacher training to spot and tackle misogyny and that high-risk pupils should be sent on behavioural courses? These measures are absolutely necessary.
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
I agree with my noble friend. There are unacceptable levels of sexual harassment and abuse of girls within our schools and universities. That is why, as part of the violence against women and girls strategy published in December 2025, specific resources are made available in our schools—in particular, three pilot programmes to support RSHE teaching, to encourage healthy relationships and to tackle harmful sexual behaviour—as well as an innovation fund to enable us to work out the most effective methods of tackling this abhorrent activity.
Baroness Barran (Con)
My Lords, what impact does the Minister think that access to social media for children under 16 has on these behaviours in school?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
I am very aware that there was misogyny, sexual abuse and harassment long before there was social media. However, of course, some of the vile attitudes towards women and girls disseminated online are precisely why we need strong relationships, sex and health education and why we need to ensure that the Online Safety Act, which has some of the strongest controls over social media anywhere in the world, is fully actioned and that action is taken where there is inappropriate behaviour, including by the companies responsible.
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester
My Lords, following on from that question, I am very grateful for the action being taken by Ofcom to investigate X and the Grok AI chatbot, but what are the Government doing to create a robust framework so that AI will be used responsibly in this whole landscape of sexual harassment experienced by women and girls?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The right reverend Prelate identifies some of the concern that has been expressed in recent days—including by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology—about the use of Grok. As she identifies, the issue goes much wider than that, which is why we need support for schools to ensure appropriate filtering, monitoring and use of AI and why we need to take strong action against companies using AI for some of the reasons that have been identified recently with respect to Grok. Some of that action is being taken in legislation already going through this House.
Baroness Boycott (CB)
My Lords, it is a follow-up question to the previous one. As I understand it from Ofcom, the maximum fine that X will receive for having Grok on its website is £18 million. This is a pathetic fine for a company of this size. Do we not have any more robust tools to stop this type of behaviour?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
As I say, the Technology Secretary has already made it clear that X needs to deal urgently with the issue of Grok. Ofcom has already contacted X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK. If services fail to adhere, Ofcom can impose fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue and, in the most serious cases of non-compliance, could apply to the courts to block services.
Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)
Can I just quiz the Minister about research by Girlguiding last year? Its Girls’ Attitude Survey 2025 found that one in 10 young girls aged between 11 and 16 was missing education, deeply affecting their life chances going forward. I take the point that sexism and harassment existed before social media, but there is now clear evidence that social media is playing a huge role. I ask the question that other noble Lords have asked: will the Government now reconsider their position, particularly on mobile phones in schools but also on social media access for under-16s?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
I think I have responded to that point. I have pointed out that one of the most appropriate things that schools can do—recognising that misogyny and abuse are not innate to children but are learned, including through the internet—is to help teach children different attitudes and to reinforce the decency that I think we all know most children and young boys have. To support schools to do that, we are investing through the provision that I talked about earlier, providing new guidance through the relationships, sex and health education guidance and supporting our teachers and parents to be able to do that.
Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for her cross-cutting brief and the personal commitment she has to this issue. I understand the rightful concerns of noble Lords around the House that social media and big tech have played a negative role in all this. None the less, what can the Government do in their own media rounds—that is, every single Minister when in front of a microphone—and what can the Opposition do, given that they are led by a woman, to integrate this anti-misogynistic message in everything we do?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
My noble friend is right that the type of misogyny we are seeing, particularly impacting young people, needs a wide policy response. But it also needs cultural and political leadership, and it needs everybody to work together to condemn it and ensure that the positive behaviour which most young men and boys show is reinforced and that, where there are misogynistic attitudes in schools, we support teachers and parents to tackle them.