Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve online safety education in schools to help children (a) recognise and (b) respond to online grooming.

As part of statutory relationships and health education in primary schools and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in secondary schools, pupils are taught about online safety and harms. The statutory guidance emphasises that schools should be alive to issues such as grooming and sexual exploitation, including coercive and controlling behaviour, and that these should be addressed sensitively and clearly. The statutory guidance for primary schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-education-primary.

The statutory guidance for secondary schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondary.

The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence.

In 2023, the department published guidance on teaching online safety in schools, which sets out how to teach about all aspects of internet safety. The full guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

Schools and colleges must also have regard to the department’s robust safeguarding framework ‘Keeping children safe in education’. The guidance makes clear that all staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety. The training should be regularly updated. In addition, all staff should receive safeguarding and child protection updates as required, and at least annually, to continue to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.