Protecting children from harm – Children’s Commissioner Report

This is the first report of the Children’s Commissioner’s inquiry into child sex abuse within the family and its network. Although child sex abuse is the subject of considerable public concern, abuse within families has been largely absent from the national conversation. This is despite the fact that the majority of victims are abused by someone within their family network, which has a particular impact on the victims themselves and the entire family structure. This report is a critical analysis of the scale and nature of this form of child sex abuse, bringing to light revealing statistics about the extent of abuse known to authorities and estimates of that which goes unreported.

Report downloads

Source: Children’s Commissioner

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New study reveals 30,000 fewer children bullied in last 10 years.

New study reveals 30,000 fewer children bullied in last 10 years.

 

Bullying and violence in English schools has plummeted in the last decade, a major new study has revealed.

 

The landmark study involving more than 10,000 secondary school pupils shows that:

  • 30,000 fewer children in England now face the fear of bullying compared to 2005
  • robbery between pupils has halved – last year just 1% of children reported being robbed

 

The new figures come as part of the government’s continued drive to deliver an excellent education for every child – and make sure teachers have the tools they need to tackle bullying and violence in schools.

 

A range of tough new powers have been introduced since 2010 to enable heads and teachers to retake control of their classrooms. On top of this, the government has pledged to train every teacher in not just how to tackle serious behaviour issues, but how to deal with low-level disruption that stops children from learning properly.

 

Strengthened measures already in use in our classrooms include:

  • stronger powers to search pupils
  • removing the requirement to give parents 24 hours’ written notice of after-school detentions
  • clarifying teachers’ power to use reasonable force to control unruly pupils

 

Teachers also now have greater powers to tackle cyberbullying by searching for and deleting inappropriate images on mobile phones and tablets. In addition, £3.3 million is being made available this year to charitable organisations to help tackle bullying and provide support for those who are bullied. This is on top of the £4 million provided in 2013 to 2015.

 

Source: Gov.UK – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bullying-in-school-plummets

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New figures released in a report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary show that the proportion of suspects charged with rape has been falling since 2014-15

New figures released in a report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary show that the proportion of suspects charged with rape has been falling since 2014-15 and varies widely from area to area. In England and Wales, 23% of reported rapes against children resulted in criminal action compared to 12% of reported rapes for adults.
Source: BBC News 05 November 2015
Further information:
Rape Monitoring Group: digests and data 2014/15

Source CASPARR

independent review of the children’s residential care system to take place

The Prime Minster and Education Secretary have announced an independent review of the children’s residential care system. Led by Sir Martin Narey, it will look at which children should be in residential care, how it can be improved, and how government can achieve the best for children in care.
Source: Department for Education 28 October 2015
Further information:
Children’s residential care review: independent call for evidence

 

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