Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on the Department for Education’s work to tackle child sexual abuse following the publication of the Government’s Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy.

The department is working closely with the Home Office and other government departments on delivering the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy. Work is well underway with the rollout of statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) in schools, the appointment of national facilitators to support safeguarding partners to embed effective local practice and the launch of the online resource Together We Can Stop Sexual Abuse to build public awareness and signpost access to support.

On 10 June, the department went further in its commitment to tackling child sexual abuse, announcing a range of measures in response to Ofsted’s recommendations following their review of sexual abuse in schools. Measures include better supporting teachers and school leaders to recognise sexual harassment and abuse and teach confidently about issues of consent, online pornography and healthy relationships, encouraging schools to dedicate inset day time to help train staff on how to deal with sexual abuse and harassment among pupils and how to deliver the government’s new RSHE curriculum, strengthening safeguarding guidance to boost teacher confidence in identifying and responding to these issues and providing supervision to dedicated members of school and college staff in up to 10 more local authorities, whose role it is to identify safeguarding concerns among pupils.