Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 1
Fifth Report - Attitudes towards women and girls in educational settings
Published 5 Jul 2023
Paragraph 16
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Attitudes towards women and girls in educational settings All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Sexual harassment and sexual violence continues to be a scourge in our schools, with many girls and women feeling powerless. The issues are longstanding and warnings have been frequent, including from our predecessor Committee. It is saddening that it took the public testimonies of thousands of school-aged children for Ofsted and the schools they inspect to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. The Government must take steps to ensure that all schools, including both mainstream and special schools, recognise the seriousness of the problem of sexual harassment in educational settings of female students and staff and have the funding they require to deliver safeguarding effectively.
From: Women and Equalities Committee, Fifth Report - Attitudes towards women and girls in educational settings (HC 331), paragraph 16, 5 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 November 2023.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government, Ofsted and the Office for Students responded to the Committee's report, with the Government stating that it is "considering" extending compulsory RSHE to post-16 settings and pointing to existing guidance, funding and the Office for Students' work in other areas.
- On school safeguarding funding, the Government says "It is for schools to decide how best to meet these strengthened duties and funding is available through core schools funding."
- On the call for an evaluation of Keeping Children Safe in Education within six months, the Government says the guidance is updated annually, with "the next consultation of the guidance" to be launched "later this year".
- On RSHE, a review of the statutory guidance is "underway" with a "full public consultation"; following publication of updated guidance, the Department will update teacher training modules and "assess further support needed".
- Ofsted says it "agree[s]" it is important to monitor technology's impact, but that gathering evidence on abuse of female staff "is not a specific inspection focus"; the Office for Students expects to publish its consultation decisions "early in 2024".