Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make (a) schools and (b) education providers statutory safeguarding partners.

​The involvement of education and childcare agencies is fundamental at all levels of safeguarding arrangements. The department knows that teachers and educators are often the first to spot warning signs of abuse and neglect and are the largest referrer of cases into children’s social care, after the police.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which the government introduced into the House of Commons in December of last year, will place a duty on safeguarding partners to automatically include education and childcare settings in their safeguarding arrangements. The duty on safeguarding partners will ensure education is consistently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements across England. It will include include all education and childcare agencies, at both operational and strategic levels of their safeguarding arrangements, so they have a clear role in safeguarding locally.

​These measures include all education settings, covering early years and childcare settings through to schools, colleges and alternative provision, so that opportunities to keep children safe are not missed.

This legislation enables the voice of education to influence the decisions of safeguarding partners and recognises the key role that education plays in keeping children safe.