Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of evidence from public inquiries, serious case reviews and independent safeguarding reports on risks associated with unregulated extracurricular settings involving children; and whether she has considered introducing statutory safeguarding principles for this sector.

This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities.

These activities often take place within out-of-school settings, however, some are run directly by schools and, if so, the schools’ existing child protection and safeguarding arrangements will apply, as set out in ‘Keeping children safe in education’.

Where extracurricular activities do take place in out-of-school settings, we believe that the majority of providers sufficiently deliver safe and enriching education and activities. However, to ensure that this is the case for all, the department launched a call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.

We are currently analysing responses and given the significance of the issue, this analysis is being supported by independent external analysts.

The department intends to supplement the call for evidence with further engagement, including through focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, prior to issuing a full response.