Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the safeguarding requirements for tutors working with children on the National Tutoring Programme.

The safeguarding of children and young people is paramount to the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), and we have worked closely with our delivery partners to ensure that robust safeguarding processes are in place across both pillars of the NTP.

Safeguarding was fully assessed as part of the application process with detailed due diligence checks carried out for potential tuition partners ahead of agreements being entered, and ongoing monitoring throughout the lifetime of the grant. The assessment carried out as part of the application focused on five broad areas: Safeguarding Policy and Procedures; Safeguarding Training and Development; Organisational Structure and Governance; Safe Recruitment Policies and Procedures; and Specific Practices for Online Tuition. We take safeguarding seriously and we have robust processes in place before and during the delivery of the NTP. To date, no safeguarding incidents have been reported by schools in the programme.

Individual tuition partners are responsible for managing their own safeguarding policies and procedures, with oversight from the Education Endowment Foundation to ensure processes remain robust and required standards are met. However, all tutors are required to be enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service and Barred list checked (or equivalent for international tutors), and complete appropriate safeguarding training to work on this programme.