Children: Exploitation

(asked on 5th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Just for Kids Law, Excluded, exploited, forgotten: Childhood criminal exploitation and school exclusions, published on 26 August; and what plans they have to include new provisions to protect children vulnerable to exploitation in their forthcoming guidance on exclusions.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 19th October 2020

It is critical for schools to be calm and disciplined environments, for pupils and teaching staff, and it is important that they remain as such.

There is no right number of exclusions, but we are clear that permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort. Exclusion from school should not mean exclusion from good quality education or from support needed to reduce risk and vulnerability.

We are taking forward an ambitious programme of work on school behaviour and are working to rapidly improve the availability of good alternative provision, so that permanently excluded children and children at risk of exclusion receive high-quality education and support suited to their individual needs. We are also working with Ofsted to clamp down on off-rolling, which is never acceptable.

We will also revise guidance on exclusions to make it clearer and more consistent, so that head teachers have the information they need to use exclusion properly and proportionately. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders including Just for Kids Law when revising guidance.

Schools must have due regard to the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) statutory guidance, when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This guidance already provides information for all staff as to what abuse, sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse look like, indicators to be aware of, what to do and who to report to, if they have a concern about a child.

On 1 September 2020, a revised version of KCSIE was published. This includes more detail regarding child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation in part one, which all staff should read. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

It is right that, where it comes to individual cases, local professionals are best placed to decide on the measures to support victims and child perpetrators.

In addition, the department provided £7 million to the See, Hear, Respond service led by Barnardo’s which will deliver, among other things, street-based youth work to identify and support children at risk of harm outside of the home, including criminal exploitation. Additionally, the £13 million Trusted Relationships Fund (2018-22) funds 11 different local authorities across England delivering innovative approaches to supporting children and young people, aged 10-17 years, at risk of child sexual exploitation or abuse, criminal exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse.

The department is also funding a £2 million Tackling Child Exploitation support programme to help safeguarding partners in local areas develop an effective response to extra-familial harms such as child sexual and child criminal exploitation.

The Home Office has invested £70 million into Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) to help tackle serious violence in the 18 worst affected areas. VRUs are non-statutory partnerships which offer leadership and strategic coordination of the local response to serious violence by bringing together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them.

This government is also investing £20 million this year to crack down on the county lines gangs who are exploiting our children and having a devastating impact on our communities. This includes investment to significantly uplift the law enforcement response to county lines, develop several wider national capabilities, and increase specialist support for young people and their families who are affected by county lines exploitation.

Reticulating Splines