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SP11

Out-of-school settings guidance update

Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Department for Education

Government responseDepartment for Education: Accepted (Jul 2026)

DeliveryNo statement from Department for Education found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The Department for Education should update the out‑of‑school settings guidance by reviewing the health and safety section to ensure terminology is clear and consistent, particularly regarding emergency plans and fire/evacuation plans for smaller providers. The guidance should also be updated to include a non‑binding cross‑reference to school entrance security guidance, emphasising that while out-of-school settings may differ from schools in terms of what is necessary, appropriate or proportionate, providers should still consider appropriate entrance and exit security measures.

Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In July 2026, HM Government reported that the Department for Education accepted the recommendation and expected to complete implementation by late 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026). It stated that the department would review safeguarding policy and strengthen guidance on security, health and safety, and emergency planning following the publication of its response to the call for evidence on out-of-school settings (Home Office response, Jul 2026). The record holds no update since the government's response of July 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026).

Sources

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Report-level response context

The government's response to Phase 1 (CP 1623, 2 July 2026) agreed with all 67 recommendations in one sentence, and names only 39 of them individually. Where a recommendation is not named, the response shown is the passage the response gives for the group it belongs to (the recommendations for organisations outside central government, or the recommendations to policing bodies), which is not a response to that recommendation alone; the response does not list the members of any group. The 10 recommendations for Phase 2 of the Inquiry to consider show no response: the response introduces them (paragraph 20) but answers none of them. The government accepts the recommendations that are for central government to deliver. Where a recommendation is for an organisation outside central government, the government's agreement is not that organisation's acceptance.

Government response

●Department for Education · Accepted · 2 Jul 2026

Words of: HM Government, Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry (CP 1623), presented to Parliament by the Home Secretary, 2 July 2026

The Department for Education (DfE) is the lead department and expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation by late 2026. Progress and next steps:
- DfE will review the existing safeguarding policy following the publication of a response to the Call for Evidence on Out-of-School Settings safeguarding.
- The review will include relevant guidance documents & strengthening of section on security, health and safety, and emergency planning.
- Specific consideration will be given to entrance and exit security issues, informed by responses to the Call for Evidence.

Extract from: Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry

Delivery

No statement on delivery from Department for Education has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.