Extracurricular Activities: Vetting
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of safeguarding in settings that offer extracurricular activities for children outside of schools in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister
This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities. Local authorities have legal safeguarding duties towards children in their areas and, where concerns arise, we expect them to intervene using the wide range of powers available to them.
The department also works closely with regions, including in Somerset and Yeovil, to support the delivery of these duties. To help ensure all children can receive safe and enriching education and activities, we launched a Call for Evidence seeking to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.
The department intends to supplement the Call for Evidence with further engagement, including focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, before issuing a full response in due course.
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