Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has had discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities on the adequacy of the provision of education on domestic abuse and controlling and coercive behaviour in post-16 education.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not provide a national curriculum for post-16 students beyond key stage 4. Post-16 providers have the flexibility to offer aspects of relationships, sex and health education, including content on domestic abuse and controlling and coercive behaviour, and should support students to access the information and support they need to have positive relationships.
The Ofsted further education and skills inspection handbook includes personal development as part of its judgements. This includes ‘developing an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationship and sex education’.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure all young people aged 16-19 enrolled in post-16 education receive mandatory Relationships and Sex Education covering domestic abuse and coercive control.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not provide a national curriculum for post-16 students beyond key stage 4. However, post-16 providers have the flexibility to offer aspects of Relationships, Sex and Health education, including content on domestic abuse and coercive control, and should support students to access the information and support they need to have positive relationships and sexual experiences.
The Ofsted Further Education and Skills inspection handbook includes personal development as part of its judgements, which includes ‘developing an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationship and sex education’.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of mandatory education on domestic abuse and coercive control for all young people aged 16 to 19 in post-16 education.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not provide a national curriculum for post-16 students beyond key stage 4. However, post-16 providers have the flexibility to offer aspects of Relationships, Sex and Health education, including content on domestic abuse and coercive control, and should support students to access the information and support they need to have positive relationships and sexual experiences.
The Ofsted Further Education and Skills inspection handbook includes personal development as part of its judgements, which includes ‘developing an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationship and sex education’.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether content on domestic abuse will be included in the new Relationships education, relationships and sex curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants to support all children and young people to be happy, healthy and safe. Through the new subjects of relationships, sex and health education, we want to equip them for adult life and to make a positive contribution to society.
These subjects will help in ensuring all young people, at age appropriate points, know the signs of unhealthy or abusive relationships, and that violence in relationships and domestic abuse is unlawful and never acceptable. Throughout these subjects there is a focus on ensuring pupils know how to get further support.
The guidance can be accessed via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/relationships-and-sex-education-and-health-education.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the study by the Universities of Bristol and Central Lancashire which found that 22 per cent of boys aged 14 to 17 have perpetrated acts of sexual coercion or abuse, what sex education initiatives they have in place that are specifically aimed at boys within that age group.
Answered by Lord Nash
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate. Schools have the freedom to decide which topics are most relevant to their pupils to ensure they develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015. We strongly welcome this guidance, which will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helped educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support sexual assault awareness education and training in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Keeping children safe is a top priority for the government. All school and college staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn, and they should be aware of the various forms of abuse so they are able to identify cases of children in need of help and support.
We have recently updated the statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. Schools and colleges must have regard to this guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The revised guidance requires schools to ensure their child protection policy covers peer on peer abuse, how the school minimises the risks of it occurring and what to do to deal with any incidents. The guidance also makes it clear that all forms of harassment must be dealt with and must not be dismissed as a joke or a normal part of growing up.
The revised guidance will come into force on 5 September 2016, for the start of the new school year (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2).
We are also clear that bullying, for whatever reason, is absolutely unacceptable. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Ofsted holds schools to account for how well they safeguard children and prevent bullying. As well as looking at schools records of bullying inspectors take into account:
o the views of pupils about the prevention of bullying, including online bullying and how the school deals with discrimination.
o the views expressed formally and informally by different groups of pupils, of their experiences of others’ behaviour and attitudes towards them and their understanding of the importance of such attributes in school and adult life.
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015 and can be found at www.pshe-association.org.uk. We strongly welcome this guidance. The PSHE Association’s guidance will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helps educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to prevent sexual harassment in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Keeping children safe is a top priority for the government. All school and college staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn, and they should be aware of the various forms of abuse so they are able to identify cases of children in need of help and support.
We have recently updated the statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. Schools and colleges must have regard to this guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The revised guidance requires schools to ensure their child protection policy covers peer on peer abuse, how the school minimises the risks of it occurring and what to do to deal with any incidents. The guidance also makes it clear that all forms of harassment must be dealt with and must not be dismissed as a joke or a normal part of growing up.
The revised guidance will come into force on 5 September 2016, for the start of the new school year (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2).
We are also clear that bullying, for whatever reason, is absolutely unacceptable. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Ofsted holds schools to account for how well they safeguard children and prevent bullying. As well as looking at schools records of bullying inspectors take into account:
o the views of pupils about the prevention of bullying, including online bullying and how the school deals with discrimination.
o the views expressed formally and informally by different groups of pupils, of their experiences of others’ behaviour and attitudes towards them and their understanding of the importance of such attributes in school and adult life.
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015 and can be found at www.pshe-association.org.uk. We strongly welcome this guidance. The PSHE Association’s guidance will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helps educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools provide support and guidance to pupils who are victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Schools play an important role in safeguarding children from all forms of abuse. Our statutory guidance is clear that schools have an important role in identifying children who may be suffering abuse, or at risk of abuse, and then take necessary action, working with other services where appropriate. Schools also have an important role in raising pupils’ awareness of these issues, thus helping pupils to keep themselves safe.
The Department for Education has produced statutory guidance for schools, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which sets out the roles and responsibilities of schools and their staff, and which contains links to more detailed advice on specific forms of abuse, including domestic violence, teenage relationship abuse and forced marriage.
Schools can use relevant parts of the curriculum, including sex and relationship education and personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), to raise pupils’ awareness. It is for schools to determine which issues they address and how, and the Government’s statutory guidance on sex and relationship education makes clear that schools should ensure that young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgements and behaviour. To complement work done in schools, the Government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign has helped to educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness among pupils of forced marriage and domestic violence.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Schools play an important role in safeguarding children from all forms of abuse. Our statutory guidance is clear that schools have an important role in identifying children who may be suffering abuse, or at risk of abuse, and then take necessary action, working with other services where appropriate. Schools also have an important role in raising pupils’ awareness of these issues, thus helping pupils to keep themselves safe.
The Department for Education has produced statutory guidance for schools, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which sets out the roles and responsibilities of schools and their staff, and which contains links to more detailed advice on specific forms of abuse, including domestic violence, teenage relationship abuse and forced marriage.
Schools can use relevant parts of the curriculum, including sex and relationship education and personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), to raise pupils’ awareness. It is for schools to determine which issues they address and how, and the Government’s statutory guidance on sex and relationship education makes clear that schools should ensure that young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgements and behaviour. To complement work done in schools, the Government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign has helped to educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships.