Select Committee · Women and Equalities Committee

Attitudes towards women and girls in educational settings

Status: Closed Opened: 9 Jun 2022 Closed: 28 May 2024 8 recommendations 6 conclusions 1 report

An inquiry to scrutinise how attitudes in educational settings, from early years to university, affect women and girls throughout their lives, drawing on an existing body of evidence including academic papers, reports and submissions to other Select Committee inquiries, including our predecessor Committee. This inquiry is part of the committee’s work into Preventing Violence Against …

Reports

1 report

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Fifth Report - Attitudes towards women and girls in educati…	HC 331	5 Jul 2023	14	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items

4 Recommendation Fifth Report - Attitudes towards women … Deferred

Undertake evaluation of KCSiE guidance implementation, impact, and barriers within six months.

The Government should undertake an evaluation of how well schools are following the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance and the impact that guidance is having in practice. The evaluation should include 33 scrutiny of any barriers preventing schools from implementing the guidance effectively. This evaluation should be completed within …

Government response. The government responds by detailing its annual update and consultation process for the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance, stating the next consultation will launch later this year, rather than committing to an evaluation of school adherence and impact.

Government Equalities Office

13 Recommendation Fifth Report - Attitudes towards women … Deferred

Strengthen Office for Students' mandatory university requirements for tackling sexual harassment and violence.

The higher education sector has made progress in tackling sexual harassment and sexual violence, but that progress has been inconsistent and slow. The Office for Students (OfS) has committed to a new condition of registration which will place mandatory obligations on universities to tackle sexual harassment and sexual violence, which …

Government response. The government notes that the OfS's public consultation results on mandatory obligations for universities to tackle sexual harassment will be published soon, with new measures in force in 2024.

Government Equalities Office

14 Conclusion Fifth Report - Attitudes towards women … Deferred

Require all universities to implement compulsory bystander intervention programmes for first-year students.

The Office for Students’ condition of registration should require all universities to put in place compulsory evidence-based bystander intervention programmes for all first-year students. The Office for Students should strengthen its statement of expectations to ensure that universities provide that training. (Paragraph 71) 36

Government response. The Department for Education expects universities to comply with existing law and notes many already provide bystander training. The Office for Students' public consultation results will be published soon, with new measures to be in force in 2024, but it …

Government Equalities Office

Oral evidence sessions

5 sessions

Date	Witnesses
12 Oct 2022	Andrea Jenkyns MP · Department for Education, Andrew Cook · Ofsted, Emma Davies · Department for Education, Kate Dixon · Department for Education, Kelly Tolhurst MP · Department for Education, Susan Lapworth · Office for Students, Yvette Stanley · Ofsted	View ↗
21 Sep 2022	Session	View ↗
7 Sep 2022	Ammaarah Faisal · Our Streets Now, Dr Melanie McCarry · University of Strathclyde, Dr Rachel Fenton · University of Exeter Law School, John Edmonds, Professor Cara Aitchison, Richie Benson · Beyond Equality	View ↗
20 Jul 2022	Ammaarah Faisal · Our Streets Now, Dr Anni Donaldson · University of Strathclyde, Dr Rachel Fenton · University of Exeter Law School, John Edmonds, Professor Steve West · Universities UK, Richie Benson · Beyond Equality	View ↗
28 Jun 2022	Dr Yuwei XU · University of Nottingham, UK, Jenny Barksfield · PSHE Association, Keziah Featherstone · Q3 Academy Tipton, Professor Nicky Stanley · University of Central Lancashire, Soma Sara · Everyone's Invited, Susie McDonald · Tender Arts & Education	View ↗