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We
are also, with the other amendments standing in my name, introducing
into Part 9 a clause to be inserted into the Further and Higher
Education Act 1992 which would extend the power to use reasonable force
to further education institutions. This clause purposely mirrors the
school clause in the Bill, Clause 86, thereby ensuring consistency of
approach between schools and colleges. We have consulted institutions
within the FE sector and representative bodies to establish the
suitability and appropriateness of introducing a statutory power to
enable the use of reasonable force in certain circumstances for those
working in FE colleges, and all those consulted were in favour of such
provision being introduced, particularly given the growing number of
pupils of compulsory school age attending FE institutions under
arrangements made by their schools—a point made by the noble
Baroness, Lady Sharp. I stress, however, that this is an enabling power
for colleges to use only if they wish. They will remain free to
continue with existing arrangements; for example,
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I turn to Amendment No. 227, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, which seeks to ensure that the department issues guidance on the interpretation of this clause and specifies recording systems and procedures to be used following any such incident. The department's current guidance on the issue of force, in Circular 10/98, provides clear practical examples of situations in which the use of force might be necessary and the degrees of force that should be used. I am happy to send that to the noble Lord to fortify his summer reading. It contains a whole section on types of incidents where it might be appropriate to use force and sets out three broad categories where action is necessary: in self-defence or because there is an imminent risk of injury; where there is a developing risk of injury or significant damage to property; and—this is a crucial third area that relates to one of the concerns that he expressed—where a pupil is behaving in a way that is compromising good order and discipline. It gives a series of examples of where the use of force might well be appropriate in such cases.
The guidance also goes on—taking up the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp—to define reasonable force. It begins by accepting that there is no single accepted legal definition of reasonable force, but it sets out two relevant considerations: that the use of force can be regarded as reasonable only if the circumstances of the particular incident warrant it; and that the degree of force employed must be in proportion to the circumstances of the incident and the seriousness of the behaviour or the consequences it is intended to prevent. Any force used should always be the minimum needed to achieve the desired results. The guidance then gives a set of practical considerations that should be taken into account and examples of the application of force and what would be appropriate. I hope that that meets the concerns raised by the noble Baroness.
The noble Lord, Lord Lucas, raises in his amendment the important issue of recording systems. It is important that we do not overburden staff by requiring them to record very minor or even trivial issues which may happen from time to time—for example, in early-years settings. However, there obviously needs to be proper recording of significant incidents and we will address that issue in revising the guidance, to which I referred, that we send to schools.
Amendment No. 234, in
the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, provides that school staff
will be able to use force only after having received appropriate
training. School staff already have a statutory power to use reasonable
force. Clause 86 re-enacts the current legislation with minor
amendments, and I have already referred to the guidance we have in
place in respect of it. We are not aware that this essential
legislation has caused problems over the past eight years in which it
has been in effect. Therefore, we believe that it would be
disproportionate and impractical to require every school to give every
member of staff who hasany responsibility for supervising
pupils specialised
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Amendment No. 238, which also stands in the name of the noble Baroness, would statutorily define “force” as meaning restrictive physical intervention. Clause 86 stipulates that force must be used only as “reasonable in the circumstances”. This makes clear the expectation that staff will use only such forceas is reasonable, which means that it must be proportionate, taking account of the child’s individual needs. We are absolutely clear, and the guidance I cited a moment ago also states, that “reasonable in the circumstances” means that the force used should be the minimum required in both type and degree to achieve the objectives specified by the legislation.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford: I am grateful to the Minister. I am particularly grateful that he has acceded to our request for amendments in relation to further education colleges. The government amendments are a response to that. It is extremely useful for the college sector that this has been carried forward and that it knows where it is.
As regards Amendment No. 234, there is training in situ today and staff use it. However, one has to accept that the Bill introduces new powers for staff on physical restraint and therefore that there may need to be changes in the training delivered to staff. However, I will ponder this matter over the Recess, read what the Minister has said and think about it. The same goes for Amendment No. 238 on the concept of reasonable force. Both amendments pick up the same issue—that the goalposts have changed to some degree and that it is a new ball game. Teaching staff need to be reassured that if they are playing a new game, they know precisely what guidance is available. For the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendments Nos. 224 to 235 not moved.]
[Amendments Nos. 236 to 237A not moved.]
Baroness Walmsley moved Amendment No. 237B:
“Well-being of homosexual pupils- The
governing body and head teacher or principal of a maintained secondary
school, academy, sixth form college, further education college, city
technology college or city college for the technology of the arts shall
have a duty to establish effective policies to prevent the bullying and
ensure the safety and well-being of all pupils self-identifying as, or
believed by other to be, homosexual, so helping to promote the
fulfilment by every pupil of his educational
potential.”
The noble
Baroness said: Amendment No. 237B concerns the well-being of homosexual
pupils. It is a sad fact that homophobic bullying causes permanent
damage. It affects children and young people fromall
backgrounds, regardless of their actual sexual
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Having effective policies in place in individual schools to tackle bullying is critical. Ofsted has said that homophobic bullying is one of the most difficult forms to deal with, and yet it is often not properly addressed, if at all. Homophobic bullying in schools is a behaviour issue which has very serious effects on a minority of pupils. It frequently results in those who are bullied failing to achieve their full educational potential, which is one of the main objectives of this Bill, or their playing truant, self-harming or even in some particularly sad cases, committing suicide. Such victims may or may not actually be growing up gay or lesbian—they may merely be thought to be so by their fellow pupils.
It is not a matter of “political correctness”. It is an issue about pupil achievement, pupil behaviour, pupil well-being, and the right of parents to feel confident that their child will be safe in school. A school where such bullying is permitted to continue unchallenged is a school which is not safe for all its pupils, and where boys in particular usually feel the need to appear “macho” and are not likely to feel comfortable about being open about their emotions. Displays of threatening or violent behaviour are not uncommon, and this will not infrequently go hand in hand with an attitude that schoolwork is “uncool”. It will readily be seen that if most of those pupils are under-achieving because of the pressure of homophobic bullying, this will have a serious effect on that school’s academic achievements. It may also affect attendance and truancy rates.
Such bullying can take many forms. Most commonly it is verbal abuse in which a string of insulting words, jokes and anecdotes are levelled at the “target” pupil. In a recent report one victim said:
- “I was never able
to set off down a corridor at that school without expecting someone to
say something unpleasant to
me”.
Not infrequently, verbal abuse can turn into physical attacks. Schoolwork is defaced, clothing ruined and victims are set upon, sometimes by several pupils, and beaten up. If such behaviour goes unchecked, it eventually leads to one adult murdering another. We hear not infrequently of such homophobic murders.
It is also
difficult for a victim to lead the life of an ordinary teenager in
these circumstances. “Ordinary” teenagers go to discos
and parties and “go out with” people of the opposite sex.
Gay and lesbian teenagers either pretend feelings that they do not
have, which
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Pupils are not the only people in schools to be both the targets and the perpetrators of homophobic bullying; it happens to and by staff as well. Pupils have reported insulting remarks made by teachers to individual pupils, sometimes in front of the whole class. Of course, pupils take their cue on behaviour from the adults in schools.
It should not be assumed that homophobic bullying is purely a secondary school phenomenon. Young children of primary school age readily pick up the verbal insults that they hear, and “gay” is a common playground insult in many primary schools. We do not believe that it is appropriate to engage children of primary age in teaching about homophobic sexual acts. However, they can perfectly well be led by teachers to understand that people of the same sex sometimes have loving relationships. These days it is by no means unknown for a child in a school to have “two mummies” or for a young child to be aware that an older brother or sister is gay. Certainly, primary school teachers could perfectly reasonably challenge inappropriate language.
Homophobic bullying will be most successfully challenged where there is leadership from the very top. This starts with central Government legislation. The repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 has been a highly important step, but to impose, as this proposed new clause does, a specific duty on governors and head teachers to safeguard the well-being of gay and lesbian pupils would send an important and welcome signal to all schools. The DfES has made some welcome forward steps, especially with the publication of the document, Stand Up For Us—challenging homophobia in schools. But no document, however well conceived, is a substitute for face-to-face in-service training and we need a lot more of that.
The requirement for Ofsted to report on how a school is promoting the five outcomes, including pupils being physically and mentally healthy, staying safe and being protected from harm and neglect, provides a ready-made opportunity for inspectors, too, to evaluate how schools are confronting homophobic bullying. If schools are aware of Ofsted’s interest in that area, that will be an important lever to improvement. The local education authority can give an important lead. But, at a school level, leadership must come from the top, from the head teacher, who then needs to convince the senior management of the school of the importance of the issue—not from a bleeding-heart liberal or politically correct perspective, but from one of improving pupil achievement and ensuring that all pupils are safe in schools.
School behaviour
policies are developed by the whole staff working together and with the
whole pupil body. The Minister has promised that he will
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No one would pretend that we have yet won the battle with racism or with the bullying of disabled pupils in schools. But what has been done has been achieved by legislation. It is normal in the vast majority of schools for every pupil to understand that racism is regarded as quite unacceptable and thatthe bullying of children with disabilities is quite unacceptable. It should be clear to all pupils that homophobia and homophobic bullying of all kinds are equally unacceptable.
You cannot help your race, your colour, your disability or your sexual orientation. If legislation is required for those other factors that are a part of the person, then, in exactly the same way, we need this new clause in the Bill to ensure that, right from the start, as attitudes develop among young people, homophobia and homophobic bullying are just as unacceptable. I beg to move.
Baroness Buscombe: The amendment raises an important issue in that lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils need to be able to have support within their schools. Bullying is unacceptable towards any child and can have the most awful effects on their subsequent lives and the quality of their education. While we very much support the aims of the amendment, we are concerned that it may be seen as singling out a particular group.
Every child should be in a position to fulfilhis or her educational potential, regardless of their sexuality, religious, social or academic background, as the noble Baroness stated, and without the fear of being bullied. While we are not against and thoroughly support the amendment in principle, we are concerned that, although it is well intentioned, it singles out one group. In some instances, that could cause more problems than it solves.
This issue clearly needs serious attention and work. We support the principle, but I question whether statutory force is the right tool to deal with this extremely sensitive issue.
Lord Judd: I shall make an unusual intervention in that I find myself in sympathy with what has been said by the Conservative Front Bench. I cannot say how strongly I support the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, in her intention. Homophobic bullying is nasty, sinister, and cruel and can have terrible results. Of that there is no doubt. But I strongly believe that we should all be concerned about the strategic issue of bullying, because bullying of vulnerable children of different sorts, as the noble Baroness stated so well at the end of her remarks, is unacceptable and can do terrible damage.
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Her argument was persuasive in so far as she was saying that homophobic bullying was not getting the same level of attention as other forms of bullying. I wonder whether she should not consider withdrawing her amendment and coming back with one that emphasises again the strategic issue of bullying and illustrates different aspects of bullying, including the iniquitous nature of homophobic bullying. If we take that approach we will not inadvertently accentuate the problem.
Lord Lucas: Let me in turn destroy the credibility of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, by agreeing with him. He is exactly right—bullying comes in many forms. You can be bullied for being fat, thin, bright, thick, smart or not smart—anything. It does not happen just because of things that you are born with, which are inescapable, but ordinary personal characteristics and variations can make you liable to bullying.
However, the noble Baroness has a strong point in that schools are traditionally bad at eradicating some forms of bullying, where the victim displays characteristics that do not fit with the spirit of the school. If a school is traditionally sporty, the shy, retiring bookworm tends to get bullied and teachers tend to turn a blind eye, because that kid is not supporting the school in the way that it believes should be the case. That can be seen in all sorts of schools, whereby if someone does not fit in with the school as a whole, teachers can be less than supportive in dealing with the bullying that that child is enduring.
That must particularly be the case as regards homosexuality. It is hard to think of any school that makes a positive virtue of applauding homosexuality. Many schools, particularly those based on religious foundations, label that as a sin. So it is important that homophobic bullying should not go unnoticed and should be included in the matters to which a school must pay attention. However, as the noble Lord,Lord Judd, said, the problem is general. Not only homosexuals suffer in this way. Many thousands of children suffer—years and years after the Elton report showed schools how to deal with bullying. I remember that we tried as hard as this Government have to deal with it. I do not think that bullying can be eradicated, but we need to continue to make an effort to do so, as the noble Lord, Lord Judd, suggested.
Baroness Howarth of Breckland: I had not intended to intervene on this topic, but I want to mention two matters, prompted by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas. One issue that has been illustrated by this debate is the stereotyping that goes on—for example, the homophobic words that are used against bookworms or quiet pupils. The gay community includes some very macho young men, and we need to remember that inadvertently we use language that is difficult. That is an illustration.
When I worked
for Childline, we undertook apiece of work on bullying. Two
areas caused us considerable difficulty. One was ethnic
bullying—and our report on that was one of our best
sellers—and
25 July 2006 : Column 1694
I have noticed from listening to the debate how difficult it is for some people to talk about these issues. That is also true in schools. It is not easy for people who have come from fairly close communities to face the issue. I hope that we get good guidance. I should like to be able to support the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, in the hope that this amendment to the Bill would not exacerbate some of the issues, but I think that we would do better to look at the matter more broadly as a part of bullying and to get guidance for teachers to help with this very difficult issue.
3 pm
Lord Adonis: The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, has anticipated my remarks entirely. We intend to proceed by way of guidance and I shall say a little more about that in a moment. By way of introduction, we entirely agree with the noble Baroness and other speakers in this short debate. As my noble friend Lord Judd said, bullying in all its forms is one of the great evils that our schools have to confront, and we have a good deal further to go before we can claim to have confronted it successfully. We agree wholeheartedly with the intention behind the new clause proposed by the noble Baroness.
Schools have a well established duty of care to all their pupils. This is interpreted as a duty to take care of pupils in their charge, as a reasonably prudent parent would in like circumstances, including a duty to take positive steps to protect their well-being. A prudent parent would of course act to ensure that his or her child’s physical safety was secured and would take positive steps to protect his or her well-being, regardless of sexuality. That is exactly the duty that schools are under in respect of their pupils.
The bullying of homosexual pupils is rightly seen as a serious concern. Clause 82(1)(b) requires a head teacher to determine measures to be taken with a view to,
- “encouraging good
behaviour and respect for others on the part of pupils and, in
particular, preventing all forms of bullying among
pupils”—
We agree with many of
the points made in the debate but we do not think that singling out one
group in the Bill would be advantageous. We expect schools to take
action against discrimination and bullying directed against any group,
but we need to do more to help schools to turn good intentions and
25 July 2006 : Column 1695
As well as advice on dealing with specific incidents, the guidance in respect of homophobic bullying will focus on prevention, including promoting a school environment in which homophobic bullying does not occur. We will consult widely on the preparation of this guidance with a view to establishing the broadest possible consensus and momentum for real change and improvements on the part of schools to meet the issues raised by the noble Baroness.
Baroness Walmsley: I thank the Minister for his response and all noble Lords for their comments. Why do we single out these victims of bullying? We do so because there is currently no corresponding framework of legislation, such as the Disability Discrimination Act or the Act on racial discrimination. Therefore, we felt that these victims of bullying required a little more help through an emphasis on their protection in legislation. The legislation that I mentioned has been successful in completely changing attitudes in society, and we would like to see the same sort of change relating to those who find themselves the victims of homophobia.
Why did we not address the issue as a whole and why did we pick out this kind of bullying? We did so because, as the Minister said, Clause 82 does it for us—it talks about bullying as a whole. We picked out these particular victims of bullying because of the need to make a positive statement about the approach that a good school will take to all pupils and because of the widespread nature of the problem and the lack of a legislative framework until now.
I am sure that if the amendment were agreed to, it would not make the problem worse. These things must be brought out into the open. Schools need to talk about them and to ask how they will approach such situations, making a positive statement. However, I was very pleased to hear what the Minister said about the consultation and the fact that the guidance will come out early next year—not before time. I know that the Minister is consulting many people who have a great deal of expertise and constructive thinking to offer in this field. But, if we had not pressed this matter, and if some of the organisations that are about to offer the noble Lord their wisdom had not pushed it, we might not have got as far as we have done in respect of the guidance to which the Minister referred.
Baroness
Buscombe: Will the noble Baroness allow me to
intervene? I was concerned about singling out this group because very
often individuals are bullied because they have been perceived by
others to have been given special treatment. We are not saying that
25 July 2006 : Column 1696
Baroness Walmsley: The noble Baroness has made a very thoughtful point and I see exactly what she means. But it is only when a whole school says, “These are our policies”, that that approach is thrown right out of the window, because then there is power in numbers. It needs the whole school community to stand up and say, “We will not tolerate this sort of behaviour”. That is why we feel that it is important that there is a specific set of policies to address the problems of these children.
No one can legislate to prevent children from being nasty to one another. It will happen and nothing that any of us in the Committee does will change that. I should like to see the whole school being consulted, talking about the problem, bringing it into the open and standing up as a body and saying, “No, we will not have this. It is not humane; it is not the sort of school we want to belong to”. If the children were involved in making such statements, this horror would be wiped off the face of British education, and not a moment before time. I thank the Minister and all noble Lords who have taken part in the debate. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 88 [Interpretation of Chapter 1]:
[Amendments Nos. 238 and 239 not moved.]
Clause 91 [Parenting orders in case of exclusion or misbehaviour]:
Lord Lucas moved Amendment No. 240:
- Page 71, line 32, after
“subsection” insert “and that this is not
substantially due to the actions or omissions of the
school”
The noble Lord said: I shall also speak to my other amendments in the group. Amendment No. 240 stands, to some extent, on its own. Essentially in that amendment I am saying that, where a court is asked to grant a parenting order, it should be able to do justice. On my reading of subsection (5), the court is able to take into account only the case for the prosecution—that is, it asks “Did the child do this?”—but it is not able to take into account any mitigating factors before making the parenting order.
As we have discussed recently,
there are many occasions when the reason for the incident may relate to
the school. The school may have been entirely unreasonable in dealing
with a pupil with special educational needs, for instance, or something
may have happened to give the pupil a strong case whereby, although the
facts are as alleged, the underlying reasons should result in the court
refusing to grant a parenting order. That is the sort of discretion
that the court ought to be given. The court
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All the other amendments are concerned with the practicality of the rules surrounding parenting orders, as set out in the Bill. The obligations on the parent come into force immediately the pupil is excluded. That may be at lunchtime. A parent is supposed to drop whatever they are doing and rush back on pain of a fine and, presumably, a criminal record to deal with their child. That is entirely impracticable. There may be cases when some parents can do that, but you have to contact them in the first place. How the school is supposed to do it, I do not know, but there is no obligation on the school to contact the parent and nothing in the Bill saying that the parent has to be contacted before the punishments come into force. I cannot see how it is reasonable to ask a parent to assume these obligations earlier than the day after they receive notice that they should be subject to them.
In a practical sense, if you know that your child has been excluded from school, you can shift heaven and earth to make provision for them the next day. That is the most that should be required of a parent. With any lesser notice, the parent’s inability to give their employer proper notice that they cannot be in the next day will make their life difficult. It is hard enough when this happens because their child is ill. By and large, employers will then make some reasonable emotional allowance and not mark down their employees, although I have known many cases when that is not the case. But when the problem is seen to be the parent’s fault—because they are not controlling their child properly and their child is getting into trouble—and suddenly they cannot appear at work in the morning, leaving their colleagues in the lurch because their child has misbehaved at school the previous day, that will be extremely damaging to their employment prospects. Employment prospects are our concern; parents getting into that kind of trouble have enough difficulties in their life without being made unemployable as a result of things that are not within their immediate practical control.
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