Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to promote digital safety in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools to tackle (i) cyber-bullying and (ii) online grooming.

The Department’s statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) states that all schools should have appropriate filters and monitoring systems in place to safeguard children from harmful material online.

All schools must have a behaviour policy, including measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Government funded The UK Safer Internet Centre to develop cyberbullying guidance for schools and an online safety toolkit. The Department is providing £1.6 million of funding for four anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying, all include cyberbullying as an integral element.

The National Curriculum for computing covers e-safety including using technology safely, recognising inappropriate conduct and how to report concerns.

The Department has legislated to make relationships education (primary level) and relationships and sex education (secondary level) mandatory in all schools, in the future. We expect young people to be taught about positive, healthy relationships and keeping themselves safe in a variety of situations, including online.