, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, the two main relationships I would have in this area are with Jane Hutt, as I mentioned earlier, and the second, which is directly on this and the work that we were just discussing, the whole-school approach to mental health and well-being, and also the…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
We have increased the provision that’s available to improve the well-being of the education workforce, and teachers specifically, so that advice is available—general advice online, but also individual provision to have advice over the phone if an individual…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
I think the systems we have provide us with the confidence that schools understand their obligations, and that the support is there for them to achieve their aims.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, there is a mixture of two things: giving clear guidance—there are legal requirements in place—but also, more than that, putting the tools in place for schools to be able to implement their legal duties is the practical thing. So, the statutory guidance…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
The honest answer is 'I don't know'. Myself, I wouldn't be keen to enforce what sort of training package should be used. I'm not au fait with the package that you're talking about, so I won't comment on that. I will look into the package to see if there's a…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Yes, I am aware that two universities have decided on a different way of delivering this. That's what's happened, in reality, and they have tested the schemes they had with HEFCW, and HEFCW have assessed those as sufficient, although not exactly what you were…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
As you understand, we operate through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales in our relationship with universities in this regard, and these arrangements are an integral part of our remit arrangements that we have between the Government and HEFCW. So…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Chair, if you would find it useful, I could share with you the names of some schools that I think have been responding quite directly to this in some of the work that they've done. I probably shouldn't name them in the committee; I don't want them to—. But…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
I don't have the answer to that last question, though it would be interesting and important to know that for us all, I think, wouldn't it, because I think part of the issue here is the changing, the fast-changing nature of some of the social media that we are…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
I'd be interested to hear the committee's findings in light of the evidence that you've heard with regard to that, because it's important that we, too, hear the evidence. The guidance that we provide to governing bodies, and to local authorities, as I…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
The numbers reported cause great concern, don't they, seeing those figures. It is something, as you say, that Estyn has raised. There are legal duties, as you say—and they are very important ones—on teachers to take action where they suspect that a child is…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, as you say, it's complex work to ensure that all the elements and aspects are dealt with jointly. So, the whole purpose is to ensure that agencies bring their experiences and their perspectives together, and that work, for it to be delivered correctly…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
It hasn't been published, but it's about to be published, and the intention is to publish it before Christmas in this term. So, there will be an opportunity for the committee to scrutinise it then.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Oh, next week. Forgive me. We work closely in this area. I touched in my response to the Chair on some of the broader challenges that schools face in terms of engagement at the moment. Our community-focused schools policy is intended to get to the heart of…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
I do some of this work jointly with Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice, who I think you took evidence from just this morning—
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
The annual report I mentioned earlier did in fact talk about the importance, which we would all recognise, of continuing professional support for teachers in aspects, certainly, of RSE in the curriculum. In the next academic year, we'll be doing a programme…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, I think the context around this has become more publicly discussed and, in that sense, perhaps better understood by society generally. So, I'm sure you would have been as shocked as I was to read some of the evidence in the Everyone's Invited survey…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, our guidance in relation to how to deliver this as part of the RSE element of the curriculum, I suppose, which is the most tangible and concrete manifestation of it that I've suggested today, is very clear that we expect schools to work with parents in…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
So, I thank them for that. I think the point you make is really important, and I also won't mention the individual, for the same reason that you won't, but I have spoken to a number of heads, and it's been an eye-opener, if I can be completely honest with…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Yes. Well, the learner voice and learner experience is an important part of our evaluation of how the curriculum generally works, and definitely in this area it's particularly important, for the reason that you gave. You mentioned the NSPCC. Just to…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, it was a good report. We accepted all the recommendations and we continue to discuss it with Estyn, and we will consider whether we need to do further work through Estyn on this. What I would say, though, as we would all recognise, I think, is that the…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Okay. So, I think the point you made, if I may say, is really important, to recognise that what we're looking at here is a broader societal problem, and schools are reflecting what's happening around them. I think it is important to see it from that point of…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Well, there are a range of programmes that support schools in this, and many of them will originate in funding that we provide as a Government, but which we haven't ourselves directly commissioned, as you will appreciate—so, regional consortia, local…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Yes. That's a broader set of questions, really, isn't it, around safeguarding more broadly. In terms of the compliance by a school with its legal obligations, obviously, the role of the governing body is central to that and our role is to issue statutory…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
The public health approach to preventing gender-based violence: evidence session 9
Thank you for the invitation to join you, Chair, today. I think the critical thing with all of the work we're trying to do in schools is to align as much of it as possible, and if you have a common vision for what you're trying to achieve, that, I think, is…
