---

Column 600

Connarty, Michael

Corbyn, Jeremy

Corston, Ms Jean

Cran, James

Cummings, John

Davies, Rt Hon Denzil (Llanelli)

Davis, Terry (B'ham, H'dge H'l)

Dunwoody, Mrs Gwyneth

Etherington, William

Forsythe, Clifford (Antrim S)

Galloway, George

Gerrard, Neil

Gill, Christopher

Gordon, Mildred

Gorman, Mrs Teresa

Grant, Bernie (Tottenham)

Greenway, Harry (Ealing N)

Hain, Peter

Hall, Mike

Hinchliffe, David

Hood, Jimmy

Howarth, George (Knowsley N)

Hoyle, Doug

Hughes, Roy (Newport E)

Hunter, Andrew

Jessel, Toby

Jones, Ms Lynne (B'ham S O)

Lewis, Terry

Litherland, Robert

Livingstone, Ken

Loyden, Eddie

McAllion, John

McCrea, Rev William

Madden, Max

Maginnis, Ken

Mahon, Alice

Marlow, Tony

Michie, Bill (Sheffield Heeley)

Mitchell, Austin (Gt Grimsby)

Molyneaux, Rt Hon James

Mullin, Chris

Paisley, Rev Ian

Parry, Robert

Patchett, Terry

Pickthall, Colin

Porter, David (Waveney)

Primarolo, Dawn

Redmond, Martin

Robinson, Peter (Belfast E)

Ross, William (E Londonderry)

Rowlands, Ted

Shepherd, Richard (Aldridge)

Shore, Rt Hon Peter

Simpson, Alan

Skeet, Sir Trevor

Skinner, Dennis

Smith, Llew (Blaenau Gwent)

Smyth, Rev Martin (Belfast S)

Spearing, Nigel

Spicer, Michael (S Worcs)

Taylor, Rt Hon D. (Strangford)

Taylor, Sir Teddy (Southend, E)

Trimble, David

Wardell, Gareth (Gower)

Williams, Rt Hon Alan (Sw'n W)

Winnick, David

Winterton, Mrs Ann (Congleton)

Winterton, Nicholas (Macc'f'ld)

Wise, Audrey

Wray, Jimmy

Tellers for the Noes :

Mr. Bob Cryer and

Mr. Ron Leighton.

Question accordingly agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House.-- [Mr. Robert G. Hughes.]

Committee tomorrow.

Madam Speaker : Order. Before we begin the Adjournment, I ask those hon. Members who are handing in amendments to the Bill to do so in good order. The Clerk has one hand only with which to take them. If hon. Members were to read the report of the Select Committee on Procedure, they would know that the Clerk can receive the amendments with one hand only because he has a pen in the other.

---

Column 601

Bullying in Schools

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.-- [Mr. Robert G. Hughes.]

10.30 pm

Mr. Anthony Coombs (Wyre Forest) : Thank you, Madam Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to discuss the important subject of bullying. [Interruption.]

Madam Speaker : I shall give the hon. Member a little time. Would hon. Members who are leaving the Chamber please do so quickly and quietly? We need to proceed with the business of the House.

Mr. Coombs : Sadly, bullying in schools casts a blight on the lives of thousands of children.

The catalyst for the debate was the sad and tragic death of Katharine Bamber, aged 16, who committed suicide in my constituency on 31 March. [Interruption.]

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Geoffrey Lofthouse) : Order. Will hon. Members leave the Chamber quietly please?

Mr. Coombs : Katharine left a note that said :

"Dear Family,

I hate my life. People make it hell. I hate them for threatening me and calling me a tart and slag. I can't take it anymore. I'm very scared and hurt inside by them and the only way I know out is by killing myself."

Two hours later, Katharine was found hanged in the garage at her parents' home.

The case has received a great deal of publicity on television and in the national press. Although it is a matter, sadly, of some controversy, it has not been dealt with as sensitively as I would have liked. Although I appreciate the desire to consider bullying from the point of view of the children in schools as well as from that of children such as Katharine, it was extremely insensitive of the chairman of the education committee of Hereford and Worcester county council to hold a press conference that made Katharine's reputation a matter of controversy. Her family were in no position to answer back.

Such cases are never simple, but it is possible to draw a number of conclusions from that local case. First, it would be extremely foolhardy to discount bullying as a reason for Katharine's suicide. Secondly, the local education authority is now committed to conducting an investigation into the circumstances at the school that surrounded that unhappy incident. Thirdly, the debate gives me an opportunity to pay tribute to the Bamber family, who have steadfastly and nobly sought to turn Katharine's sad death into an opportunity to bring forth to the nation the subject of bullying. I hope that this debate goes some way towards doing that.

It is an important campaign, because bullying in schools is disruptive for the person being bullied and to the general ethos of discipline and good order in the schools and, as a result, to the standards that can be maintained. The measurement of bullying is extremely difficult. Almost by definition it is a matter of perception, particularly when mental rather than physical bullying is involved. Also, many children are so scared of the consequences if they do report acts of bullying that they do not do so.

Some academic research has been done into the incidence of bullying. Michelle Elliot compiled a study between 1984 and 1986 of 4,000 children between the ages of five and 16. She found that no less than 68 per cent. had been bullied at one time or another ; 38 per cent. had been

---

Column 602

bullied seriously ; and 8 per cent. had been bullied so consistently and oppressively that their lives had been blighted by it. Delwyn Tatton, who has made a study of bullying in schools here and abroad, was quoted in the report of the Elton committee, which the Government set up to look into school discipline, as saying that bullying was widespread and too often ignored by teachers. Childline, and Bullyline, which has been set up by the BBC in conjunction with British Telecom and the Government in recent months, found that in only three months in 1990 it received no fewer than 7, 600 calls from children alleging bullying. That led to 2,000 firm cases where information could be studied in detail. Jean La Fontaine, an educational academic funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation, found that no fewer than one in seven or 1.3 million children throughout this country were being bullied at any one time.

Many people might say that bullying, disruptive behaviour, fighting and teasing are part of growing up in schools. Inevitably, children compete with each other, form themselves into individual groups and are jealous of each other's boy friends and girl friends. The National Confederation of Parent-Teacher Associations has said that children should be able to stand up for themselves. We all agree with that. However, when bullying becomes oppressive, systematic, organised and continuous, it can make the lives of children in this country no less than hell. I can use examples of letters that I have received and letters received by Childline to show some of the problems.

First, I have a letter from a family whose son was bullied for two and a half years. It says :

"We watched our son change from a normal happy, healthy boy. He became thin and pale, walking with his head and shoulders dropped. Our GP eventually realised that the stomach pains, backaches etc. that he had been treating were all psychosomatic. It would take pages and pages to tell you all the wicked things that happened he took more verbal and physical abuse in those 16 months than anyone should go through in a lifetime."

I have another letter from a man aged 49 who wrote in to talk about his school experience in Newcastle upon Tyne. He talked about physical torture, and some of the things that he described can be called nothing else. He said :

"The verbal abuse included terrible sexual innuendoes about my Mother and what they would like to do to her. These verbal obscenities affected me more than anything else and created terrible nightmares."

Another girl wrote saying that at school she had been beaten up no fewer than 168 times :

"If I had told the school, told my Dad, told ANYBODY then things would probably be different. I stopped telling them though when they stopped punishing her"--

in other words, the bully.

"Telling her often didn't do the slightest bit of good at all. It only made things worse because she knew she could get away with whatever she liked."

Perhaps most poignant, a boy aged 12 wrote a poem about his experiences of being bullied only six months ago. Sadly, that bullying continues. He said :

"It makes us unhappy

It makes us mad

It steals our childhood

It's sad to be sad

It makes us moody

It makes us cry

It makes us feel we want to die

Four more years of terror to go"--

he was 12--

"Can I stand it? I don't know.

The best years of your life' they say

---