8. Debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s Report — 'Everybody’s affected: Peer on peer sexual harassment among learners'

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:56 pm on 26 October 2022.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:56, 26 October 2022

I think this is a really important report and I think it's really timely as well. But I think, as Laura Anne Jones said, the level of sexual harassment is so widespread that it really requires a response across society. But it really does underpin the importance of compulsory relationship and sexuality education, because young people need educating on how to keep themselves safe. These bad beasts, which we all find really convenient, parents give their children these things without realising what it gives them access to. I absolutely agree with where you cover the importance of having consistency of approach in relation to mobile phones in school, because there is absolutely no reason why anybody should have a mobile phone on while they're actually supposed to be in lessons. They can keep them in their bags so they've got them when they're going home, but they should not be appearing in school, and they should be confiscated if they appear, in my view.

I think, also, your emphasis on good record-keeping, as well as quality relationship and sexuality education, is absolutely essential, because unless schools have a trauma-informed approach to the behaviour problems that may be exhibited by a young person, or indeed their absence from school, then the school is simply not understanding what is going on here. They have simply got to be ensuring that young people know that the school is a safe place where they can tell people what is happening to them, because the evidence coming from the school where I'm a governor was that, actually, school is the safest place in their lives. Unfortunately, they are receiving harassment both at home and on public transport, for example.

I was very pleased today to get a response to a letter I wrote to Cardiff Bus about the sexual harassment that has been reported on buses, and it was a really excellent letter, saying that they take it very seriously, that their control room controls exactly what's going on on every bus, and that they are going to write to other public transport providers so that we have a whole-system approach in relation to public transport. So, I think that's really welcome.

But anyway, I thank very much the committee for its work on this, and clearly, this is something that is going to be an ongoing piece of work for us.