APPENDIX 80
Letter from Kevin Brennan MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
I am writing with further information
for the Committee, as requested in your letter of 11 March. My
letter of 17 March covered the Bradford figures. This letter provides
answers to questions (a), (b) and (c) in your 11 March letter
and updates you on our discussions with Ofsted.
(a) what other concrete mechanisms
do schools have to follow up cases where teachers are concerned
the student may be at risk of a forced marriage?
We encourage schools to follow the guidance
set out in Dealing with Cases of Forced Marriage, Guidance
for Education Professionals which was published in 2005. This
sets out practical steps which education professionals should
take if they are concerned that a student is at risk of a forced
marriage. As you know, we are s committed to revising this guidance
and placing it on a statutory footing this autumn.
To inform the Committee's Inquiry, my
officials have collected, via regional Government Offices, a sample
of case studies from local authorities to illustrate actions taken
by schools and children's services to safeguard children from
forced marriage. We understand that Bradford and Tower Hamlets
have previously sent case studies to the Committee We have attached
additional case studies from Derby and Newham at Annex A. Looking
at these, there are a number of important points I would draw
out:
— the case studies
illustrate the complexities of forced marriage cases, and the
importance of a multi-agency response to safeguard children effectively;
— organisations
such as Karma Nirvana have a very important role to play in responding
to victims' needs and should be considered as part of the multi-agency
response; and
— as illustrated
by the Derby case study, schools can make a real difference by
understanding indicators of forced marriage and acting to intervene
even where the child is initially unable or unwilling to disclose.
As we revise guidance on forced marriage,
and develop, with FMU, tailored awareness-raising materials for
schools, we will ensure that these points are highlighted for
schools and local authorities in order to inform improved, more
consistent practice.
(b) What precisely is being done by
the 14 authorities follow up those children identified as "not
in suitable education", and to assess how many of the total
number are at risk of forced marriage?
The material provided to the Committee
in my letter of 11 March, which drew on the previous returns from
the 14 local authority areas, responded to some extent to this
question. In order to provide the Committee with further detail,
my officials have probed further via the Government Offices and
I attach the additional information that local authorities have
provided at Annex B.
The latest local area returns provide
evidence that they have put to good use the statutory guidance
on identifying children not receiving a suitable education, which
we issued in February 2007, and have implemented policies and
procedures accordingly to enable them to follow up effectively
children missing from education. The information in Annex B provides
several examples of what local authorities do in practice to follow
up those children identified as "not in suitable education".
The returns show that local authorities
are considering whether forced marriage could be a factor in these
cases, although we think there may be more that authorities could
do to proactively question whether forced marriage indicators
are present. We will address this in the guidance on forced marriage
to be published in the autumn, and will amend guidance on children
not receiving a suitable education to reflect this.
As I mentioned in my letter of 11 March,
I also asked Her Majesty's Chief Inspector for her view about
how local authorities are implementing the duty to identify children
not receiving a suitable education and I attach a copy of her
reply which indicates that the majority of local authorities inspected
since April 2007 have good procedures in place for tracking children
and young people missing from education. My officials have now
asked HMCI to follow up this initial view with some further work
over the summer to look in more detail at the approaches that
a small sample of local authorities are taking, with a view to
our updating the guidance on the duty for local authorities in
the autumn. This updated guidance would also cross-refer to the
revised guidance on forced marriage in order to ensure that these
linkages are being made in local authorities' processes and practice.
Work over the summer to look in more
detail at the approaches that a small sample of local authorities
are taking, with a view to our updating the guidance on the duty
for local authorities in the autumn. This updated guidance would
also cross-refer to the revised guidance on forced marriage in
order to ensure that these linkages are being made in local authorities'
processes and practice.
(c) What changes do you propose to
make to the way the data is collected by local authorities so
that accurate information is gathered about those who are take
out of school for the purpose of forced marriage?
As indicated above, the information we
have now collected from local authorities through Government Offices
has shown that considerable effort is being applied by local authorities
to fulfilling their duty to identify children not receiving a
suitable education, a small number of whom might be a cause for
concern, whether through a risk of forced marriage or of other
serious harm. But it has also shown that local authorities are
using different definitions of categories of children whom they
are identifying and tracking.
We have concluded therefore that there
is scope for developing some standard definitions for local authorities
to use in collecting information and we plan to consult on this
issue with local authorities over the spring and summer, with
a view to including these in updated, extended statutory guidance
on identifying children not receiving a suitable education. By
doing this, and at the some time strengthening the references
to forced marriage and ensuring clear cross-references to, and
consistency with, the revised forced marriage guidance, we will
be giving schools and local authorities a much clearer and more
robust basis on which to track children missing from education
and safeguard children and young people from forced marriage and
other harm.
21 April 2008
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