Tackling Spiking

Debate between Laura Farris and Jeremy Quin

Monday 18th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Laura Farris]

I am glad that the hon. Lady has asked me that question, because I have had discussions with Women’s Aid and Ministers in the Department for Education very recently to discuss exactly that. I have formed the view that there is a strong imperative for us to look carefully at how we teach children about relationships and about attitudes on these subjects at the start of secondary school, and even, I think, at the end of primary school. Once these issues develop, they are much more difficult to shift, and the key is to prevent them from developing in the first place. There are some good precedents for that being highly effective in other areas, which is what I am exploring at the moment.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

I warmly welcome my hon. Friend to the Dispatch Box for what I believe is her first statement—the first of many, I am certain. I was alarmed to hear in the statement that the 5,000 cases reported last year were

“perhaps only the tip of the iceberg”.

Will the reporting tool enable anonymised cases to be reported, so that we can have a better sense of the scale of this crime?