Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 8 December 2021.

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Photo of Laura Anne Jones Laura Anne Jones Conservative 2:39, 8 December 2021

Thank you, Minister. Minister, the Estyn report released earlier this week is quite damning, I'm sure you'll agree. It was hard enough when we were at school, socially, but now for young people they have far more to cope with, with the added pressures of phones and social media, and it makes me glad not to be in school anymore, but, as a parent, it does worry me daily.

The Estyn report that has just been released is hugely distressing and has highlighted the tragic situation that students find themselves in with a prevalence of peer-on-peer sexual harassment in schools. With it being reported that children as young as 11 are being pressurised for explicit pictures, with the incidence of sexual harassment in schools going up, and the increase in the number of people not reporting it going up, serious questions have to be asked, Minister, and of this Government's abject failure to tackle this. These findings are nothing new, but they are getting worse. So, why don't young people feel that they can report it? We need proactive measures in place, Minister, across all schools in Wales to ensure that instances such as these are dealt with with respect, and that our young people can feel that they've been listened to, as well as to drive out these behaviours in schools through our new curriculum in the future. What urgent action are you taking now, Minister, to address this, so that young people who experience abuse of this kind right now are getting the help that they need?