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Ministers dropped the ball on sexual violence in schools, says Labour

Jess Phillips says government has not taken issue seriously, five years after committee’s report
Sexual violence is endemic in schools and the government must launch an inquiry to establish how widespread it is, the shadow minister for domestic violence has said.
Jess Phillips said the issue had been pointed out to the government five years ago, it had been a “problem for a very long time” and ministers had “dropped the ball”.
She told Times Radio: “We need to have proper safeguarding responsibly monitored by Ofsted and it needs to be written into the statute that schools have to prevent sexual violence.”
On Monday the Conservative MP Maria Miller called for an urgent Ofsted inquiry into allegations of school sexual abuse as part of a “deep dive” investigation to establish why complaints by pupils of rape, harassment and assault were not being taken seriously.
Miller, who oversaw a groundbreaking report on the issue in 2016, said a disturbing culture has been allowed to take root in schools. “Nothing has changed in the last five years,” she said. “Ofsted needs to now look at the data it’s been collecting to find out why the situation has not improved for children.”
The scale of harassment in schools has been highlighted by a website on which pupils’ have shared accounts of rape, harassment and assault. The number of submissions topped 10,300 and police said the school rape culture revelations could lead to the biggest increase in reports of sexual abuse since the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Phillips said if the problem was as widespread as the website indicated then there were “boys in schools who need their parents to intervene, including taking their sons to the police station”.
Robert Halfon, the chair of the education select committee, said there was a “Lord of the Flies culture” in some schools and that counselling should be given to victims of sexual violence.
“It is pretty grim just reading through the Everyone’s Invited website, your heart goes out to all the people who have suffered the abuse, the sexual harassment, the threats, the abuse online,” he told BBC Breakfast. “I do think there is a Lord of the Flies culture in some of our schools across our country and what needs to happen is an urgent inquiry to overhaul safeguarding procedures because they are not fit for purpose.
“The schools involved should immediately implement a system of providing counselling for students past and present as well … so they can get all the support they need.”
In another interview on Tuesday, Phillips said people coming forward about sexual violence had been ignored. She told Good Morning Britain: “What has gone wrong, I’m afraid to say, is a state that simply has not taken seriously and a government that has not taken seriously this issue for too long.
“We’ve been hearing for weeks, and no doubt we will hear again for months, and in fact it’s been going on for years, that people coming forward about their sexual violence are ignored, the criminal justice system largely fails them.
“But in this regard, I have to say I’m not at all shocked about what has happened in the last couple of weeks around schools because four years ago this was uncovered. It was uncovered by the women and equalities select committee, and taken to the current schools minister and the then secretary of state for education, that there was not just rape culture, there was rape occurring – every school day in a year there would be a rape that was going on in school.
“A third of 16- to 18-year-olds stated that they had experienced unwanted touching, so sexual assault at school, and two-thirds of 13- to 21-year-olds said that they’d suffered harassment at school. This was four years ago and the government did absolutely nothing to change that.”
source: Sarah Marsh
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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