Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

REF

DfE/ GEO

ACTION

PROGRESS

1

GEO

Develop new guidance in consultation with teachers for PHSE lessons specifically about gender equality (Apr 2016).

GEO has been working with the PSHE Association to consult teachers on how best to deliver this commitment.

2

GEO

Fund the Freedom Charity to expand the ‘Train the Trainers’ project…. (Apr 2016).

GEO funded the Freedom Charity to expand their ‘Train the Trainers’ project to reach a greater number of communities and empower teachers to deal with the topic of forced marriage sensitively and confidently. This funding enabled an additional 3,620 students and 1,230 staff to learn about forced marriage with Freedom.

3

DfE

Publish a consultation report on updated statutory safeguarding guidance for schools, Keeping Children Safe in Education, to come into force in September 2016 (May 2016).

DfE published the Government response to the consultation in May, and published a draft of the revised guidance for information at that time. The guidance came into force on 5 September 2016.

5

HO/ GEO

Launch the second phase of the national prevention campaign to challenge abuse in teenage relationships and promote understanding of health relationships and consent – including among LGB&T teenagers (Feb 2016).

GEO, in partnership with the Home Office, launched Disrespect Nobody, the second phase of the national prevention campaign to challenge abuse in teenage relationships. This included a TV advert, along with a dedicated website, blogs and guidance for teachers.

6

DfE

Launch a communications campaign to encourage the public to report all forms of child abuse to help address people’s fear of reporting (Mar – autumn 2016).

In March 2016 DfE launched the national Together we can tackle child abuse campaign to encourage members of the public to report any concerns they may have about a child, in particular about suspected child abuse and neglect. Over 100 councils have engaged with the campaign so far, and our findings indicate that it is giving people a sense of confidence to report their suspicions. We know it takes time to change opinions and behaviours, which is why we plan to run the campaign again in 2017.

8

GEO

Update Media Smart resources (with the Advertising Association) to help teachers and parents improve primary school children’s understanding of how gender is represented in the media and their resilience to negative content (Sep 2016).

GEO commissioned the charity Media Smart to develop a new resource to help teachers and parents improve primary school children’s understanding of how gender is represented in the media and their resilience to negative content. The resource was published in August 2016 and will be disseminated to schools this term.

10

GEO

Conduct or commission mapping of the evidence base and initiatives that engage men, boys and bystanders in VAWG prevention to identify how Government can build on these initiatives to further social change (Apr 2017).

GEO is currently mapping the evidence base and initiatives that engage men, boys and bystanders in VAWG prevention, as well as meeting with stakeholders working in this area.

18

DfE

Raise standards in social work and overhaul social work education and practice to improve the recruitment, retention and development of social workers under-pinned by a new regulator…. (all social workers assessed and accredited by 2020).

DfE is continuing to develop our plans for the assessment and accreditation of child and family social workers and will consult this autumn. We expect the first social workers will begin assessment in spring 2017. The Children and Social Work Bill includes provision to establish a new regulator for social workers.

19

DfE

Establish a What Works Centre, with up to £20m of funding, which will be an evidence-based resource to support social workers and work alongside the Chief Social Worker (by end 2016).

It is expected that the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care will be established in 2017 – we are currently considering options for the model and set-up process and carried out early market engagement in June/July 2016 to inform our thinking.

28

GEO/ HO

Establish an official Government working group to map out current issues, prevalence, initiatives and barriers to addressing gendered online abuse to improve understanding and coordinate the response to online manifestations of VAWG (Dec 2016).

In partnership with the Home Office, GEO has established an official Government working group to do this. This work is ongoing.

30

GEO

Continue to ensure victims of revenge pornography have access to bespoke support and advice about their right to have the images removed from websites (review Apr 2017).

GEO has funded the Revenge Porn Helpline for a further year to continue its important work supporting victims of revenge porn and working to have such images removed from websites.

68

DfE

Carry out an urgent review of Local Safeguarding Children Boards and take forward plans to centralise serious case reviews so that lessons from serious incidents can be learned more quickly and effectively (review completed by Mar 2016).

The review was completed in March 2016 and published in May 2016. Provisions to cover the key recommendations on LSCBs and reviews are included in the Children and Social Work Bill.