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Chris New, star of hit film Weekend, reveals how he survived sexual abuse: ‘I was staggering through life’ - inews

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Chris New, star of hit film Weekend, reveals how he survived sexual abuse: 'I was staggering through life' - The i Paper

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After 25 years, actor Chris New finally faced the grooming and assault he suffered as a child. Here, he explains why he sought help, how it changed his life and why men need to speak out about sexual violence

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Teachers 'struggle to deal with classroom sexual abuse'

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By Hayley Hassall & Jim Booth
File on 4

Teachers say they do not feel equipped to deal with peer-on-peer sexual abuse because they have had no training.

More than 1,500 UK teachers replied to a questionnaire from BBC Radio 4's File on 4 and teachers' union the NASUWT.

More than half said they did not think adequate procedures were in place in their schools to deal with abuse.

Many are also unsure how to deliver elements of a new sex-and-relationships curriculum, which the government says third parties might now help with.

In England, the Department for Education has introduced a compulsory Sex and Relationships Education (RSE) curriculum in all schools, focusing on relationships in primary schools and sex and relationships in secondaries.

It has also asked Ofsted to review peer-on-peer safeguarding procedures.

Of the teachers surveyed, almost a third said they had witnessed peer-on-peer sexual harassment or abuse and almost one in 10 said they saw it on a weekly basis.

The debate about a culture of sexual abuse at schools has escalated in recent months after a website set up for victims to post their experiences anonymously gained more than 16,000 posts - some from children as young as nine.

The Everyone's Invited website publishes anonymous allegations which refer mostly to sexual harassment carried out against young women by young men at their school or university.

The government has now launched a dedicated hotline with the NSPCC for young people who feel they have been harassed and abused.

Since the helpline launched at the beginning of April, it has received more than 350 calls, and 65 referrals have been made to agencies including social services and the police.

'I felt so alone'

Amina is now 19 and still trying to come to terms with what happened to her at high school. She says her harassment started when she was in Year 7, aged 11.

"I started to get bullied and people were making rumours up about me. They were saying I would go home with so many different guys and have sex with them - that was really upsetting for me.

"It was during the summertime and we were practising for PE, and then I'm sitting there with my friends and then there's this group of boys next to us. And then I just feel a hand on my back, forcing me onto the floor and then this boy starts grinding on me, and I think during that moment - I just completely froze.

"And then I look up at my teacher and then he looks at me and then he looks away. I just felt so alone in that moment. Part of me felt like it was my fault because of other people's responses. I remember telling myself just to stay strong and just wait until I got home to cry."

Amina is now being supported by the Rape Crisis charity.

The new RSE curriculum in England was introduced in September 2020.

Andrew Fellows, associate head of policy at child-protection charity the NSPCC, says that while the new lessons are a positive development, schools have not been given the support and guidance to deliver the new curriculum effectively.

"Coercive control, sexual consent, healthy relationships, online safety, pornography - that's all in there.

"But what schools haven't been given is the guidance and the support to cover that and to deliver that in a way that works for their students," he said.

Flora Cooper, head teacher of Crowmarsh Primary School in Oxfordshire, where staff have just started to teach the new RSE lessons, said: "In terms of external training, we've not had any.

"We actually haven't seen much being offered in terms of training and it is absolutely in the training - that's what is essential, which we don't have.

"Until the teachers are confident with the delivery of the content, then I don't think any of them will be confident and fully teaching the children the full curriculum. It feels as though we are on our own."

Ofsted is currently conducting a review of safeguarding policies and practices relating to sexual abuse in state and independent schools and colleges.

It was ordered by the government after thousands of young people - mostly girls and young women - contacted the Everyone's Invited website.

Children's Minister Vicky Ford said: "We've seen these enormously worrying and very shocking allegations that have come through the Everyone's Invited site.

"One of the things that Ofsted will be looking at in this review is, are schools getting enough training and support? Do they need, for example, third parties to come in and train elements of that curriculum?"

Anyone who has suffered sexual abuse at school can contact the dedicated NSPCC helpline on 0800 136 663.

File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 on Tuesday, May 25 and then available on BBC Sounds.

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Teachers 'struggle to deal with classroom sexual abuse'

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By Hayley Hassall & Jim Booth File on 4 Teachers say they do not feel equipped to deal with peer-on-peer sexual abuse because they have had no training. More than 1,500 UK teachers replied to a questionnaire from BBC Radio 4's File on 4 and teachers' union the NASUWT.

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Oxford stories of sexual assault shared after students 'silenced' | Oxford Mail

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Stories of sexual assault shared on pink postcards after victims ‘silenced’

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Stories of sexual assault were shared on pink postcards in Oxford this weekend in response to student victims being ‘silenced’.

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Angry chef returns £1,000 bill to customer who was inappropriate to waitress - Daily Record

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Angry chef returns £1,000 bill to customer who was inappropriate to waitress - Daily Record

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Lee Skeet made the decision to hand back a £1,000 bill - the largest his restaurant has ever received - to a customer whose fellow diners acted inappropriately towards front of house manager.

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I moved to an all-girls college to escape my school’s rape culture – finally I can study in safety | Anonymous | The Guardian

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I moved to an all-girls college to escape my school’s rape culture – finally I can study in safety | Anonymous

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Not even the teachers were spared the constant assault of unwanted advances, jokes and crude comments

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Ofsted finds sexual harassment allegations at apprenticeship provider

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Ofsted finds sexual harassment allegations at apprenticeship provider

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Ofsted has begun clamping down on 'ineffective' safeguarding measures, including against sexual abuse

Ofsted has begun clamping down on 'ineffective' safeguarding measures, including against sexual abuse

An apprenticeship trailblazer has been branded 'inadequate' by Ofsted after finding a "concerning number" of sexual harassment allegations.

Employer provider PGL Travel, which has 42 apprentices including 27 on the level 3 outdoor activity instructor standard it helped develop, has lost its grade two awarded in 2009.

This was after inspectors uncovered safeguarding concerns such as: "Leaders and managers have not acted rapidly enough to assess, and consequently take actions to mitigate, the risks to staff and apprentices of sexual harassment and/or assault."

Leaders had identified a "concerning" number of allegations of sexual harassment and assault between staff at the provider's 14 UK residential centres, the report continues.

They arranged a dedicated meeting to take preventative action and stop these issues reoccurring, yet Ofsted's report, published today, found "leaders did not have a sufficient focus on the circumstances surrounding the allegations, or fully assess the risks to staff and apprentices.

"Consequently, leaders were unable to put in place effective actions to deal with or reduce instances of these allegations between staff, which have continued to be reported in the months since the meeting was held."

PGL Travel said this was a meeting of a working group on preventing sexual harassment which was set up in July and has since met three times.

Watchdog warned providers ineffective safeguarding would lead to grade four

Ofsted has been redoubling its efforts to investigate sexual misconduct at providers following the Everyone's Invited revelations of widespread sexual abuse in education settings, which came to prominence last spring.

Since full inspections returned in September, inspectors have been reviewing providers' sexual abuse records and looking at how providers handle related incidents.

Changes made to the inspection handbook in June warned that if safeguarding is ineffective, including around addressing learners' concerns about sexual abuse, "this is likely to lead to a judgement of inadequate leadership and management".

Leadership and management was the only area of the report PGL Travel was rated 'inadequate' for.

Provider has brought in 'numerous' measures after harassment allegations

PGL Travel has told FE Week it "simply does not tolerate this behaviour," but these situations "sadly do arise" as they employ more than 2,000 seasonal staff at peak times.

The provider insisted it has "strong and open procedures for dealing with allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault that are underpinned by robust disciplinary action".

All allegations of sexual assault are "always" referred to police and it has seen no convictions related to the provider in the last five years, a spokesperson said.

"We share Ofsted's view that employers need to be more proactive in addressing and mitigating the risk of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.

"We have already implemented numerous measures to increase awareness, improve training and reduce incidence."

PGL Travel was founded in 1957 and runs outdoor educational activity experiences such as axe throwing, quad biking, and rifle shooting for children and young people aged seven to 17, its website says.

Its safeguarding measures came under the spotlight last month also when Ofsted suspended PGL Travel's childcare registration to provide activities for unaccompanied children on half-term holidays.

This was after visits to five PGL centres during the half-term and found staff misusing substances and health and safety and environmental health concerns.

PGL Travel later insisted they had referred the substance misuse allegation to the police and say they found no evidence.

Leaders failed to identify safeguarding risks, Ofsted finds

The apprenticeship monitoring visit, conducted at the end of October, found apprentices were "not made sufficiently aware of the risks around them" and do not revisit topics such as consent, appropriate behaviour, and an individual's right to change their mind.

The report also highlights how a number of PGL Travel's sites are in areas where county lines activity has been identified, where drug traffickers recruit vulnerable young people into their operation.

Yet the provider's leaders had failed to note this in their risk assessment, so failed to assess "the risk this poses to staff and apprentices, particularly those apprentices who are living and working away from home for the first time and could be vulnerable to such activity".

Inspectors did record how apprentices learn significant new skills during their training, especially on the level 3 instructor standard which PGL was part of the trailblazer group for.

The report also compliments how training is organised into intensive blocks around peak activity times at the residential centres, so learners are given time to focus on learning.

Yet while managers conduct a range of quality assurance activities, the outcomes from these do not "sufficiently focus on, or consequently identify, areas for development that will help them improve the quality of the apprenticeships they offer".

On the overall report, PGL Travel said it was "extremely disappointed" by the outcome and they have "already embarked on a comprehensive quality improvement plan regarding our working practices across PGL and are working closely with Ofsted and the Education and Skills Funding Agency".

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Ofsted finds 'concerning number' of sexual harassment allegations at apprenticeship provider

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Ofsted has begun clamping down on 'ineffective' safeguarding measures, including against sexual abuse Ofsted has begun clamping down on 'ineffective' safeguarding measures, including against sexual abuse An apprenticeship trailblazer has been branded 'inadequate' by Ofsted after finding a "concerning number" of sexual harassment allegations.

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Student ‘silenced’ by Oxford college over rape claim - The Independent

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Student 'silenced' by Oxford college over rape claim - The Independent

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A student said a 'gagging clause' prevented her from speaking about the alleged assault.

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Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds | Sexual harassment | The Guardian

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Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds | Sexual harassment | The Guardian

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More than four-fifths of young women in the UK have been subjected to sexual harassment, according to a survey for UN Women UK, which warns that most women have lost faith that the abuse will be dealt with.

Among women aged 18-24, 86% said they had been sexually harassed in public spaces, while just 3% did not recall ever having experienced sexually harassing behaviour. The remaining 11% chose not to answer the question.

According to the survey, published in a report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for UN Women, 71% of women of any age said they had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces.

"This is a human rights crisis. It's just not enough for us to keep saying 'this is too difficult a problem for us to solve' - it needs addressing now," said Claire Barnett, executive director of UN Women UK.

"We are looking at a situation where younger women are constantly modifying their behaviour in an attempt to avoid being objectified or attacked, and older women are reporting serious concerns about personal safety if they ever leave the house in the dark - even during the daytime in winter."

The survey of more than 1,000 women, carried out by YouGov and seen exclusively by the Guardian, exposes a damning lack of faith in the UK authorities' desire and ability to deal with sexual harassment - 96% of respondents did not report incidents, with 45% saying it would not change anything. Among those who said the event was not serious enough to report were women who had been groped, followed and coerced into sexual activity, said UN Women UK.

As part of the UN Women UK's Safe Spaces Now project, the organisation collected stories from 400 women and sent an open letter to leaders, calling for better designed public spaces, improved reporting systems and education.

"We've seen really strong results elsewhere in the world. Our problem now is that sometimes in the UK, we think we are a leading light in terms of progress, and we forget to work on the gender-based violence that still happens every day at home, especially to women and marginalised groups," said Barnett.

Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, said women were recognising the abuse they faced as sexual harassment, but it was unsurprising they had no faith in an "utterly broken" system.

"If you talk about wolf-whistling or street harassment in the UK, you are liable to find yourself on the front page of a tabloid being called a 'feminazi' and accused of overreacting, so of course young women don't think that they'll be taken seriously if they come forward," she said.

Bates pointed to TUC/Everyday Sexism research that found 52% of women had experienced sexual harassment at work, and of the one in five who had reported it, three-quarters said nothing had changed, while 16% said they were treated worse as a result.

"At the root of all this is the normalisation of the idea that a woman's body in a public place is simply public property and young women just have to put up with it. We have to shatter that normalisation through policy and in the press if we want to change the picture," she said.

This article was amended on 24 March 2021. Due to incorrect information supplied to us, an earlier version said the UN Women UK survey found that 97% of women aged 18-24 had reported being sexually harassed in public spaces, and 80% of all women; these figures are actually 86% and 71% respectively. The headline has also been amended to reflect this updated text.

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Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds

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More than four-fifths of young women in the UK have been subjected to sexual harassment, according to a survey for UN Women UK, which warns that most women have lost faith that the abuse will be dealt with.

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Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds | Sexual harassment | The Guardian

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Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds | Sexual harassment | The Guardian

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More than four-fifths of young women in the UK have been subjected to sexual harassment, according to a survey for UN Women UK, which warns that most women have lost faith that the abuse will be dealt with.

Among women aged 18-24, 86% said they had been sexually harassed in public spaces, while just 3% did not recall ever having experienced sexually harassing behaviour. The remaining 11% chose not to answer the question.

According to the survey, published in a report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for UN Women, 71% of women of any age said they had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces.

"This is a human rights crisis. It's just not enough for us to keep saying 'this is too difficult a problem for us to solve' - it needs addressing now," said Claire Barnett, executive director of UN Women UK.

"We are looking at a situation where younger women are constantly modifying their behaviour in an attempt to avoid being objectified or attacked, and older women are reporting serious concerns about personal safety if they ever leave the house in the dark - even during the daytime in winter."

The survey of more than 1,000 women, carried out by YouGov and seen exclusively by the Guardian, exposes a damning lack of faith in the UK authorities' desire and ability to deal with sexual harassment - 96% of respondents did not report incidents, with 45% saying it would not change anything. Among those who said the event was not serious enough to report were women who had been groped, followed and coerced into sexual activity, said UN Women UK.

As part of the UN Women UK's Safe Spaces Now project, the organisation collected stories from 400 women and sent an open letter to leaders, calling for better designed public spaces, improved reporting systems and education.

"We've seen really strong results elsewhere in the world. Our problem now is that sometimes in the UK, we think we are a leading light in terms of progress, and we forget to work on the gender-based violence that still happens every day at home, especially to women and marginalised groups," said Barnett.

Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, said women were recognising the abuse they faced as sexual harassment, but it was unsurprising they had no faith in an "utterly broken" system.

"If you talk about wolf-whistling or street harassment in the UK, you are liable to find yourself on the front page of a tabloid being called a 'feminazi' and accused of overreacting, so of course young women don't think that they'll be taken seriously if they come forward," she said.

Bates pointed to TUC/Everyday Sexism research that found 52% of women had experienced sexual harassment at work, and of the one in five who had reported it, three-quarters said nothing had changed, while 16% said they were treated worse as a result.

"At the root of all this is the normalisation of the idea that a woman's body in a public place is simply public property and young women just have to put up with it. We have to shatter that normalisation through policy and in the press if we want to change the picture," she said.

This article was amended on 24 March 2021. Due to incorrect information supplied to us, an earlier version said the UN Women UK survey found that 97% of women aged 18-24 had reported being sexually harassed in public spaces, and 80% of all women; these figures are actually 86% and 71% respectively. The headline has also been amended to reflect this updated text.

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Four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds

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More than four-fifths of young women in the UK have been subjected to sexual harassment, according to a survey for UN Women UK, which warns that most women have lost faith that the abuse will be dealt with.

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Rights of Women survey reveals online sexual harassment has increased, as women continue to suffer sexual harassment whilst working through the Covid-19 pandemic. - Rights of WomenRights of Women

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Rights of Women survey reveals online sexual harassment has increased, as women continue to suffer sexual harassment whilst working through the Covid-19 pandemic. - Rights of WomenRights of Women

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Women's rights charity survey data shows that Covid-19 has seen women experience an upsurge in online sexual harassment whilst working from home, as harassers take advantage of online work platforms and social media during the pandemic.

Nearly 1 in 2 women who have experienced sexual harassment at work reported to experience some to all of it online.

15% of women who have experienced sexual harassment at work reported an increase in online harassment whilst working from home during Covid-19.

Nearly 1 in 3 women who have reported sexual harassment to their employer said that the process had been negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Since announcing a package of commitments to tackle sexual harassment at work last year, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) has yet to respond to their consultation on sexual harassment. Rights of Women are calling on the Government to urgently prioritise making guidance on sexual harassment for employers statutory.

Between 23 rd November and 15 th December, leading women's charity, Rights of Women, conducted an online survey to gather information on women's experiences of sexual harassment at work and working from home through the Covid-19 pandemic.

This inaugural data is the first of its kind in England and Wales and reveals the ways in which women are unsafe and unprotected from sexual harassment at work during Covid-19.

The survey exemplifies how current protections in the Equality Act 2010 are not robust enough to challenge the culture of sexual harassment at work, or whilst working from home, and a mandatory preventative duty for employers is needed to tackle the issue.

Rights of Women is calling on the Government to act by strengthening the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) 'Sexual harassment at work technical guidance' and making it statutory for all employers.

Rights of Women also urges the Government to publish its response to its 'Sexual Harassment in the Workplace' September 2019 consultation, which was due in spring of this year.

Survey exposes an upsurge in online sexual harassment whilst working from home

45% of women experiencing sexual harassment, reported experiencing the harassment remotely. Remote sexual harassment refers to the following: sexual messages (e.g. email, texts, social media); cyber harassment (e.g. via Zoom, Teams, Slack etc); and sexual calls.

42% of women experiencing sexual harassment at work have experienced some to all of the harassment online.

23% of women who have experienced sexual harassment reported an increase or escalation whilst working from home, since the start of lockdown (23rd March 2020),

15% of women who have experienced sexual harassment reported that some or all of the harassment has moved online whilst working from home, since the start of lockdown (23rd March 2020).

One woman highlighted how working from home has enabled her harassers to further invade her privacy: "having to let colleagues into my bedroom (via video meetings) means I feel my privacy has been invaded and nowhere is safe. The men now have more ammunition to mock me with."

One woman spoke of her experience of cyber harassment, via Zoom: "The director of the company uses Zoom to take screenshots of myself and other women which he shares with colleagues making derogatory statements and implying the photos look like we're doing sexual acts."

One woman spoke of the impact working from home has had on her ability to report sexual harassment: "The fact it's on Zoom in front of others in a jokey manner makes it difficult to address."

Survey reveals women's access to justice and safety from sexual harassment at work has been negatively impacted by the pandemic, as investigations stall

72% of women experiencing sexual harassment at work do not feel their employer is doing enough to protect and/or support them from the harassment and abuse.

29% of women who have reported sexual harassment to their employer reported that the response has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

One woman wrote of how working from home impacted their employer's response and investigation into sexual harassment: "due to restrictions in limiting contact with people, management haven't wanted to go into the home of the perpetrator to speak with them about the matter because it's not viewed at necessary and could be risky. It also took a long time to get a meeting arranged because, due to restrictions, only management staff were allowed into the office. It took a long time for them to answer my emails due to Covid so the pandemic had a huge impact on the way the situation was handled."

A key worker at a hospital told us of how the investigation process into sexual harassment was stalled, and she had to continue working with her harasser, due to the pressures of the pandemic: "As the pandemic was declared, all attention was diverted in managing clinical pressures and needs as I work in a hospital. This meant an investigation was not started for months. In the meantime, I felt unprotected as there was no system in place to remove the harasser from the department whilst an investigation was pending. ...There is no policy in this mammoth organisation that addresses sexual harassment."

Deeba Syed, Senior Legal Officer, Rights of Women, said:
"These statistics echo what women have been telling us already, sexual harassment at work happens online as well as in-person. Although more women are working from home, online sexual harassment has increased and women continue to suffer sexual harassment despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Women working from home have seen their harassers take to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, social media, messages, and phone calls, to continue the torrent of abuse. What is more, women's health and safety from sexual harassment at work is being undermined and overlooked by their employers. Women have told us that employers are exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to delay and frustrate the justice processes for women who do come forward to report harassment. In doing so, they continue to neglect their legal responsibility to prevent and protect women from sexual harassment at work. The survey highlights how the current legal framework for sexual harassment complaints is not-fit-for purpose, as employers continue to undermine their responsibility to keep women safe from sexual harassment and harassers repeatedly evade justice. Until legislation and guidance reflect the lived realities of women, whether working from home or on site, no space is safe from harassment and abuse for women at work. It has been over a year since the GEO closed their 'Consultation on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace' and we are still waiting on the Government's response and next steps which they pledged to release by spring. Earlier this year, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published technical guidance for sexual harassment, and now more than ever this guidance must be is made statutory for all employers to follow as an urgent priority."

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Rights of Women survey reveals online sexual harassment has increased, as women continue to suffer sexual harassment whilst working through the Covid-19 pandemic. - Rights of Women

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Women's rights charity survey data shows that Covid-19 has seen women experience an upsurge in online sexual harassment whilst working from home, as harassers take advantage of online work platforms and social media during the pandemic. Nearly 1 in 2 women who have experienced sexual harassment at work reported to experience some to all of ...

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Mayor Of London Addresses Sexism With ‘Have A Word’ Campaign | The Drum

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Mayor Of London Addresses Sexism With ‘Have A Word’ Campaign | The Drum

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Mayor of London addresses sexism with ‘Have a Word’ campaign

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The Mayor of London is seeking to stamp out sexism in the capital by calling on male residents to ’have a word with yourself, then your mates’ around any sexist attitudes or inappropriate behaviors they may harbor or observe.

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‘My childhood was stolen. Why is my adulthood being taken, too?’ The rape survivors waiting 1,000 days for prosecution

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or Nina, the prospect of walking into a police station and reporting her stepfather for child sexual abuse was, she says, her "worst nightmare ... It was something I'd dreaded my whole life," she says. She had been raped by her stepfather for years when she was a child - and he had promised all sorts of consequences if she ever told anyone. Her mother, he told her, would kill herself. He implied that he might, too - but one thing he always assured her was that he would never go to jail.

When she was in her late teens, Nina finally told her mum, who was devastated, but believed her. It took years, however, before she felt ready to press charges. "One of the things that stopped me from telling anyone that it was happening at the time was the terror of standing in a courtroom putting all that shame on show - and that felt even worse the older I got.

"It took a good few years before I realised that the right thing to do was to prosecute. It had got to the point where 'little Nina' would have wanted it to happen; I felt like I was doing it for my childhood self and for all the other little Ninas out there who were still suffering. I had a duty beyond any pain it would cause me - but I had no clue of the price I'd be paying."

Nina made the report in 2016. She subsequently gave a detailed video interview with the police. "It felt good to get it done," she says. Rather than "overwhelm" her with continual contact, the police suggested they only get in touch when there was progress on the case. "I thought that sounded all right, but then you wait six months, eight months, 10 months, without hearing anything," says Nina. "What's going on? You start to wonder: is it OK? Is anything happening? Are they investigating?"

At times, it felt almost as if the move that had seemed so momentous, that had taken all of Nina's courage, had made no mark or had never happened. "I had no paperwork, not a single letter, nothing at all to show it was on record or in the system other than a crime number that was dictated to me down the phone at some point," she says.

"The thing that horrifies me is that at the start of each new year, I think, 'OK, maybe this year, it'll all be over, something will happen and I can finally put it behind me and get on with my life' - but it never is. It has been five years now with the police and CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] ping-ponging the case between each other. My stepfather is still living his life without consequences and we haven't even got to a charging decision.

"It casts a shadow over everything I plan, any choice I make, this feeling that something could happen any time so I have to keep it all top of my mind when all my instincts are telling me not to. My testimony is relying on the fact that I'm remembering something that I'm desperately trying to forget."

Figures for England and Wales have shown the typical delay between an offence of rape and a resulting criminal case rose to 1,000 days in 2021. According to the Criminal Bar Association, the backlog of trials for sexual offences has risen by 125% in the past three years.

This, of course, shows only the tip of the iceberg, since a fraction of reported sex offences will get to trial - 2.9% resulted in charges in the year to September 2021, according to figures released by the Home Office. (The prosecution rate for rape cases is even lower, at 1.3%.) The 1,000-day wait doesn't count survivors like Nina, whose case has been languishing for almost double that.

The pandemic is often cited as a cause, but multiple factors have played a part here. "In some ways, Covid feels like a convenient excuse," says Francesca Jarvis from Rape Crisis South London. "The system was already buckling."

According to Jarvis, these waiting times are the result of a "perfect storm". At the legal end, we've had a decade of court closures, the defunding of criminal legal aid and the growing shortage of barristers. At investigation stage, the case of Liam Allan at the end of 2017, where a rape trial collapsed because crucial mobile phone evidence had been withheld from the defence, has led to a level of caution in police and CPS that, Jarvis says, "completely changed the landscape".

Kate Ellis, a solicitor with Centre for Women's Justice, agrees that the impact of this case on waiting times is "hard to overstate". It tapped into fears around sexual offences and false allegations, and the police and CPS really came under fire. "Many believe the pendulum quickly swayed too far in the other direction, as investigations now seem very focused on the victim's credibility, on the police and CPS proactively gathering evidence that may assist the defence - health records, phone records, there's a huge volume of evidence in a digital age. It has raised difficult questions about where to stop."

At times in the past five years, Nina has felt more like the suspect than the survivor. "The only 'updates' I get are when the CPS ask for something more," she says. "They asked for my medical records, which I gave them, although I regretted that a little bit as they then started getting really invasive."

Next, the CPS asked for her mobile phone. "That was a real conundrum," says Nina. "This happened when I was a child. I don't have the same phone any more. There's nothing on my phone that could relate to that period and the idea of allowing the defence, my abuser, to see what my life is like now feels so exposing. The irony is that this is a crime of consent, but the CPS can't take no for an answer. They asked me three times, and three times I refused. The fourth time, I gave in and we came to an arrangement where they could scroll through. They wanted to confirm that I hadn't been colluding with my mum. It just feels so violating."

Oona Brooks, a reader in criminology at Glasgow University, has studied the impact of waiting times on sexual assault survivors as part of a project funded by the Scottish government. She describes a process of "secondary victimisation". "Sexual assault takes control away from someone and the criminal justice process replicates that sense of powerlessness," she says. "Survivors describe living in a heightened state of anxiety - awaiting the next update, not knowing what will happen next, wondering if they're taken seriously, feeling really unimportant.

"They know they may be expected to recall details two, three, even four years later. One male survivor described waking in the night and writing things down so he wouldn't forget them. Effectively, you're having to hold on to these details and remain as a 'victim' instead of beginning to process them, in order to live your life."

Therapy for survivors coping with such pressures can be sorely needed, but accessing it is hugely problematic. Case notes can currently be requested by the defence - leaving many survivors feeling unsafe discussing complex feelings around guilt, self-blame and uncertainty in therapy. Rape Crisis is calling for therapy and counselling notes to be made non-disclosable.

Likewise, there are restrictions on what you might say to others, or to whom you can talk at all, which can become increasingly unmanageable as time stretches. Brooks gives the example of a case involving rape in the context of domestic abuse, where a woman's child might be called to give evidence. "She was concerned about what she could say to her own child, how she could help her child, and answer her questions or if she might be accused of coaching."

The pressures on daily life are immense. "Most survivors know their attacker," says Brooks. "It's likely he will be out on bail. He probably knows the same people, you'll have friends or family in common, some will take sides. Survivors told me about the accused harassing and intimidating family members. One no longer felt able to use the local shops."

Monica is part of a multi-victim rape and sexual assault trial that has taken three years to come to court partly because of pandemic-related postponements.

The years have added layers of trauma. Monica isn't British, her visa has expired since reporting the case and she had to fight for discretionary leave with working rights attached - at one point, forced to live on a grant of £39 a week. "My family have no idea what happened to me," she says. "My life was like a horror movie and a parent only wants to see that on TV. If I'd gone home, I'd have taken this broken chapter with me. I'd have felt unable to talk to anyone about the case, I'd have no support structures around me, I'd have kept everything hidden - but still it would be hanging over me and I'd have been expected to recall it all and help convict a dangerous man years later when the time came.

"This wait, and the way I've been treated have been so difficult," she continues. "I'm writing a victim impact statement now and the initial outrage about what was done to me has been so clouded and coloured by the years since that it's difficult to pick it apart and examine on its own."

Nina feels the same. "I look at my friends moving on with their lives and think: 'My childhood was stolen from me, but why does my adulthood continue to be taken from me, too?' I worry about planning anything nice in case something happens with the case to ruin it. I'm supposed to be getting married, but I'm worried I'll get a call, or news, or a trial date.

"Booking a holiday, starting a new job, starting a family - it's the same for everything," she says. "I'd love to have kids, I'm at the point where I'll shortly be able to do that, but I can't imagine going through the court process or risk slowing it down with a pregnancy or a baby. I've told three different employers about it now, which is ridiculous."

There have been some moves to speed up the process. But Ellis is dubious about introducing time targets for the investigation stage. "There was a police force piloting them, but it seemed to result in cases not being investigated at all," she says. "I'd like investigations to be more focused on the suspect and evidence of the offence, rather than so much time being spent investigating the victim. The real problem is resources - at the moment, we have overstretched officers and prosecutors with a massive case load."

At court level, Brooks supports a radical overhaul. "They've introduced some additional courts and digital technology for remote hearings, but that is tinkering around the edges of a system that isn't working," she says. Brooks is a keen supporter of proposals to introduce specialist-judge-only sexual violence courts in Scotland - something supported by Rape Crisis as a key step to improve the survivor experience. On 25 February, a joint inspection by police and CPS of the investigation and prosecution of rape cases in England and Wales found poor communication between police and CPS and also with the victims from the point of charge onwards. Its recommendations included the use of specialist rape courts.

In the meantime, it is hardly surprising that crime outcomes for the year ending March 2021 showed that 33% of reported sexual offences were closed, because victims dropped out of the prosecution. There are moments when Nina would also like to walk away, but, as yet, she hasn't. "I'm not confident that I'll get to court," she says. "I'm well aware that anything could happen. One of his friends asked me to withdraw because 'he's so old', and: 'Does it really make a difference?'

"I'm proceeding because it's the right thing to do - but with each passing year, his promise that I was never going to see justice for this rings louder."
Survivor names have been changed.

Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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'My childhood was stolen. Why is my adulthood being taken, too?' The rape survivors waiting 1,000 days for prosecution

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or Nina, the prospect of walking into a police station and reporting her stepfather for child sexual abuse was, she says, her "worst nightmare ... It was something I'd dreaded my whole life," she says. She had been raped by her stepfather for years when she was a child - and he had promised all sorts of consequences if she ever told anyone.

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Male violence against women is about so much more than toxic masculinity | Sonia Sodha | The Guardian

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Male violence against women is about so much more than toxic masculinity | Sonia Sodha

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It is safer and more effective to disrupt dangerous men rather than trying to fix them

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Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls - Committees - UK Parliament

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‘I almost cried’: woman arrested at Everard vigil expresses relief after Met chief quits

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A student whose photograph went viral after her arrest at a vigil following the murder of Sarah Everard said she "almost cried" when she heard Dame Cressida Dick had resigned as Metropolitan police commissioner.

Patsy Stevenson was pinned to the ground at the vigil on 13 March at Clapham Common, south London, for Everard, who had been kidnapped while walking home before being raped and murdered by the serving Met officer Wayne Couzens.

The force was criticised over its policing of the vigil, during which women were bundled to the ground and arrested for breaching Covid-19 laws.

In a Sunday Times interview, published ahead of first anniversary of her arrest, Stevenson, 28, a physics student, said she "stopped in the street and almost cried" when she heard the commissioner had resigned.

She said: "I thought, thank God. Not only has she presided over a force where systemic misogyny and racism has been allowed to thrive, she's failed to ensure the perpetrators are prosecuted. But the fact that she's out doesn't fix what's going on. This can't be a token gesture. There has to be top-down, radical change."

Stevenson, who has since launched legal action against the police, said she was forced to the ground, handcuffed and arrested under Covid-19 laws, the same laws Couzens had falsely used to arrest and handcuff Everard as she walked home. She said officers used "brute force" to intimidate her and other women that night, adding she had previously trusted the force and thought police brutality was "rare".

"It felt like they were telling us not to mess with them. I'd always trusted the police, so it was unexpected and shocking," Stevenson said. "I could never have imagined something like that could happen to me ... I was confused and terrified.

"All the time I was being handcuffed and taken away I was thinking, this is how Couzens got Sarah into his car. I knew they were going to put me in their van but I didn't know what they were going to do to me or what they could get away with."

After the photograph of her arrest went viral, she said she experienced abuse on social media - "really, really in-depth death threats and extremely twisted misogyny from men who said they knew where I lived and they were coming to kidnap me. I don't think I slept for more than an hour all that week."

Stevenson said her Tinder profile was liked by 50 serving Met officers. She said she knew they were serving police officers "because they were in uniform! And their bio says: 'I've got handcuffs and a baton and they're not the fluffy kind. Wink.' I mean what are they doing?" she told the newspaper.

She said she was continually worried about her own security, had been followed home by random strangers and had had to move house. "After the vigil, a very nice decent police officer came round and gave me a barricade for my door and window locks, and I carry a vibrating alarm wherever I go," she said.

She still has a fear of police officers, saying: "I cross the road to avoid them," and said she had nightmares of being forced to the ground, unable to breathe. "The feeling of being physically overwhelmed as they surrounded me will stay with me for ever," she said.

Stevenson is contesting a £200 fine for breaking Covid laws.

Couzens is serving a whole-life order for his crimes, while prosecutors are separately considering charging three of his former colleagues over allegations they shared racist and misogynistic messages with him.

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'I almost cried': woman arrested at Everard vigil expresses relief after Met chief quits

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A student whose photograph went viral after her arrest at a vigil following the murder of Sarah Everard said she "almost cried" when she heard Dame Cressida Dick had resigned as Metropolitan police commissioner.

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Nightingale court tells parents of victim of alleged rape there is no room for them at trial

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Nightingale court tells parents of victim of alleged rape there is no room for them at trial

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Family of teenager advised that one parent could sit in overspill room shared with alleged rapist’s family

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Living in a woman’s body: our fists raised in defiance, we are taking back what is ours

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For so many years, I lived as if I didn't have a body. Childhood abuse meant mine was a conquered land, a place that had been pillaged and vanquished from the very start.

Thirteen years ago, I found out I had stage3b/4 uterine cancer. I discovered it late and by the time I did a tumour the size of an avocado already occupied my uterus. It had busted through my colon. I did not know it or feel it.

This sent me off on a quest, travellingthe world in search of answers, asking women everywhere: when did you leave your body? Who owns your body? What space is your body allowed to occupy? How has your body been hurt, changed or refused by the government, your job, the supreme court, white supremacy, climate catastrophe, poverty, police violence, settler colonialism, transphobia, imperialism, capitalism?

Women's bodies are forever under threat. On alert. Ducking. Crouching. Hiding. Making themselves smaller, less obvious. Waiting for the insult. Guarding against the unwanted touch. The grab. The punch. The rape. The murder. How does your body fight back? When does your body rest?

'How does your body fight back? When does your body rest?' Illustration: Ngadi Smart/Studio Pi/The Guardian

Nurses are expected to sacrifice their bodies for those who refuse to wear masks. Restaurant workers are forced to take down their own masks, risking sickness and death, so the unmasked customer can decide if their face is pretty enough for a lousy tip.

Californian farm workers' bodies are assaulted so routinely, while harvesting fields, that they have nicknamed them field de calzón, or "field of panties", because their underwear is ripped off them when they are raped.

Black women's bodies are shot by police in their beds, in their cars, for a traffic violation in front of their child, on a "wellness check". The wrong body in the wrong house. Afterwards, even their stories and names are disappeared. Speak her body, say her name.

Women's bodies are hated for their 'perfection', for their 'imperfection'; for being too thin, too fat, too round, too flat

The body of a girl child sold by her parents to an old man in Herat, Afghanistan, to keep her starving family alive. The body of another girl sold online for the price of a mobile phone, and another, sourced by a British socialite for her rich, sadistic boyfriend, who serves the child's body to his luminous circle of the depraved.

Women's bodies, carrying the memories of trauma, predisposing them to cysts and tumours, bumps, lumps and sickness, long after the damage is done.

Women's bodies always serving, feeding, bathing, holding, carrying and nurturing other bodies, never having time to think about their own. Women's bodies hated for their "perfection", for their "imperfection"; hated for being too thin, too fat, too round, too flat. Hated because they can do all that and make you feel all that.

But bodies are now remembering, reattaching, returning, becoming bodies for the first time. The burning from daddy's unwanted fingers shoved inside at five now becoming word, becoming fire, the language of purpose, of power.

Bare-breasted bodies in the streets pushing back against femicide. Indigenous women's bodies on horseback and in kayaks, protesting over pipelines about to spill oil. Fist-raised bodies pressed up against rows of erupting police. Bodies rising: my body, my choice. Differently abled bodies occupying the corridors of Congress. Enraged bodies smashing the steel doors of a factory where their sister and brother workers needlessly died.

Women's bodies, unapologetically alive, freeing the beauty and birdsong inside, no longer captive or denied, but becoming one surging body, sweeping in other bodies as they rise.
V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a playwright, activist and the founder of One Billion Rising, a global protest campaign to end rape and sexual violence against women (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence). This year's campaign, Rise for the Bodies of All Women, Girls and the Earth, takes place on (or around) 14 February. It invites survivors and their allies to "rise politically, outrageously, artistically - through dance, art, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, testimonies, and other ways that best express your outrage, your resistance and your vision of a world without violence".
In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International

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Living in a woman's body: our fists raised in defiance, we are taking back what is ours

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For so many years, I lived as if I didn't have a body. Childhood abuse meant mine was a conquered land, a place that had been pillaged and vanquished from the very start. Thirteen years ago, I found out I had stage3b/4 uterine cancer.

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Yvette Cooper: 'The vast majority of rape victims are being totally let down' - LBC

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Yvette Cooper: 'The vast majority of rape victims are being totally let down' - LBC

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The vast majority of rape victims are being "totally let down", Labour Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has told LBC.

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Metropolitan Police apologises to academic for ‘sexist, derogatory’ language used during strip-search - The Independent

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Metropolitan Police apologises to academic for 'sexist, derogatory' language used during strip-search - The Independent

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London mayor Sadiq Khan criticises 'appalling' incident amid 'ongoing investigation'

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Ashling Murphy’s killing has shocked Ireland – but will it change a culture of misogyny?

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he should still be here." A small homemade sign, doused in candlelight during one of the many vigils for Ashling Murphy, said what was on the minds of thousands who have stood in solidarity across the island of Ireland and beyond in the past few days.

The killing of the 23-year-old schoolteacher, out for a run after class in the bright afternoon light, has been described as "random". As her life was honoured and she was laid to rest near her home town of Tullamore today, one of her cousins offered a hope that the many vigils taking place in Ashling's memory would "mark the beginning of an end to violence against women".

An outpouring of grief but also of testimony in the wake of her death is forcing a collective reckoning with violence that is anything but random. Two weeks ago, a young woman in Dublin was assaulted and left with facial injuries. Two men have been charged. This Thursday marks one year since the fatal attack of Urantsetseg Tserendorj, a mother of two and teacher from Mongolia stabbed while walking home from work in Dublin. A teenage boy was charged with her murder.

The stretch of canal where Ashling was running that day is named Fiona's Way, in honour of a young pregnant woman who went missing in 1996. Between 1996 and 2020, at least 236 women died violently in the Republic of Ireland. Their names have been written out and remembered individually in recent days. A majority of these women were killed in their own homes, by a man they knew, by men they loved, men they had children with. How do we protect against that?

When schools in Ireland were asked to observe a minute's silence today, I thought of how a majority are still under Church ownership and how many are segregated by gender. During lockdown I spoke at a number of feminist society events at Irish universities. I listened to young women speak about never receiving education around consent or sex, how some who had been victims of sexual abuse and assault had been shamed by their own teachers. These women are demanding change.

The last of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries only closed in 1996. Last week marked the first anniversary of a government-backed report that claims these religious-run institutions that incarcerated "fallen" women and girls were in fact "refuges", contradicting survivor testimonies. Some of the same religious orders now run anti-prostitution initiatives, supporting laws that put female sex workers at greater risk of violence.

Women shouldn't have to die for their experiences to be heard. In the 1980s, the schoolgirl Ann Lovett died alone in a grotto while giving birth and the national airwaves were flooded with testimonies of hidden pregnancies and the violence of shame imposed through doctrine and legislation. When Savita Halappanavar died after being denied an abortion in 2012, the breaking of silences that followed eventually forced constitutional change. But how do we tackle the crisis of male violence and misogyny that is so deeply normalised?

The Irish government is promising a new "zero-tolerance" strategy to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. But the justice system that enforces laws is rife with violent misogyny. In the past few years, barring orders have been issued under the Domestic Violence Act 2018 against 21 serving police officers. Ireland's Garda commissioner has apologised not only for hundreds of ignored domestic violence 999 calls but also for an Irish police officer recording video of a woman being arrested while naked, a woman who died by suicide after that footage was posted online. A sergeant was recorded joking about raping and deporting two women who were under arrest. Decisions made by those in power over the past few decades to cut single mothers' welfare and close rape crisis centres have put vulnerable women even more at risk.

Even as thousands stood against gender-based violence over the past week, a Men's Rosary group tried to drown out female voices at one vigil, a female journalist received a threat warning her against soliciting "negative comments about men", a man is reported to have masturbated at an online vigil, and male "patriots" with links to the far right stoked xenophobia over the potential nationality of the killer.

Last summer, after speaking at an event on Irish feminism, of all things, I was having a few drinks outside with some women, when two of us needed to pee. We were walking alone along a darkened road, trying to find a secluded spot to squat for lack of public toilets when a white van passed us, a man just beginning to leer out of the window. In the last week, Irish women have shared experiences of near abductions, of assaults on streets, of constant hypervigilance. That time, we suddenly heard another male voice in the van: "Shut up man, you can't be saying that." It was that simple. A man calling another man out. "Shut up man". And he did.

In Duck Duck Goose, a play by the Irish writer Caitríona Daly, a young woman describes how passengers on a bus turned a blind eye when an eccentric and sad-looking man who she smiled at began to grope and assault her. "It's [a] feeling like assault but nobody else is responding to it in that way so it can't be, can it?" she asks herself. "People don't like assault, they stop assault, that couldn't have been assault." She escapes, walks to work, and appears calm. "So I want to know how you just know?" she asks a young man who is defending a male friend accused of rape on the basis that the woman looked normal afterwards. "How do you feel so confident having seen her after the 'alleged'? When people don't even seem to know what assault is when it's happening there in front of them?"

The scene was based on the testimony of a young Irish woman I know. It is just one example of the everyday violence that is normalised by misogynyand ignored - until a woman is killed.

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic violence helpline is on 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic Violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org

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Ashling Murphy's killing has shocked Ireland - but will it change a culture of misogyny? | Caelainn Hogan

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he should still be here." A small homemade sign, doused in candlelight during one of the many vigils for Ashling Murphy, said what was on the minds of thousands who have stood in solidarity across the island of Ireland and beyond in the past few days.

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Winchester college society was cult-like, finds report into child abuse

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A cult-like evangelical Christian society at a leading private school allowed a powerful and charismatic barrister to groom and sadistically abuse boys with impunity, an investigation has found.

Members of the Christian Forum at Winchester college "showed signs of what would today be described as radicalisation", said a 197-page review commissioned by the elite school into abuse carried out by John Smyth QC.

The school's then headteacher, John Thorn, was informed of the abuse in 1982 but did not report it to police. Smyth moved to Zimbabwe, where he abused "as many as 90 boys, possibly resulting in the death of one", the report said.

Winchester college apologised "unreservedly" for its part in the "terrible experiences" of Smyth's victims. In a statement, it said: "The review ... demonstrates in particular that John Smyth was able to infiltrate the college's Christian community and gain access to the college's pupils, providing him with the opportunity to groom and then abuse them."

The review, published on Tuesday, said that Smyth had "unfettered access" to the college. "Multiple staff members, including the headmaster, were aware that Smyth was in close contact with boys in the Christian Forum and that he had a powerful influence over them".

However, "levels of supervision ... were not sufficient to prevent or detect the physical or sexual abuse which Smyth perpetrated against pupils."

Pupils felt unable to disclose the abuse to staff, and staff members who had suspicions about Smyth's activities did not share them with each other or report them upwards.

Thorn, who is in his 90s, was unable to answer questions for the review. Smyth died in 2018.

Up to 100 pupils attended the college's weekly Christian Forum, which was dominated by Smyth. "The inner circle of the Christian Forum which formed around Smyth in the 1970s and early 1980s shares many features of a cult. Its members showed signs of what would today be described as radicalisation," the review concluded.

Boys were invited to Smyth's home for Sunday lunch with his wife and three children, and some were subjected to brutal beatings in Smyth's garden shed. One survivor said he received more than 1,000 strokes on one occasion. Two survivors later attempted suicide.

In 2017, Andrew Watson, a former Winchester college pupil who is now the bishop of Guildford, said he had been subjected to a "violent, excruciating and shocking" beating by Smyth in his garden shed.

One survivor told the reviewers that Smyth "made me feel special, part of an inner circle". The QC imposed a "code of loyalty and secrecy", the report said.

Smyth also invited some Winchester boys to attend Christian summer camps, run by the Iwerne Trust, that were aimed at moulding the next generation of Christian leaders in public life. Smyth groomed boys at the camps for abuse in his shed.

Some parents of Smyth's victims raised concerns about his apparent hold over their children with Winchester college staff. Euan MacAlpine, a former housemaster, told an internal investigation in 2017: "We all suspected but never got together to discuss it." In 1979, he told one parent: "The whole thing really is most awkward since none of us housemasters can tackle Smyth directly."

Thorn became aware of the abuse in September 1982, the report said. He wrote to one father: "It's literally unbelievable. Because it was unbelievable, it was something none of us guessed at."

In October 1982, Thorn and two parents visited Smyth to get him to sign an undertaking to cut all ties with the school and seek psychiatric help. Thorn wrote: "We have I feel rendered him pretty well harmless."

At no stage were the police or any other statutory body informed of Smyth's abuse. The report said: "As a result of [Thorn's] inability to participate in the review, the reviewers have not been able to determine the reasons why no report was made."

The reviewers said they were aware of 13 former Winchester college pupils who were abused by Smyth, but it was "likely there were other victims".

The Church of England has also commissioned a review of its handling of allegations made against Smyth, which is due to report this year. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, who worked at the Iwerne Trust camps in the 1970s, apologised to survivors last year.

In a statement, two survivors welcomed the report, saying the college had taken a "brave step ... to establish the truth of what happened 40 years ago". They commended the college's "honesty and integrity".

In the UK, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. The NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000

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Winchester college society was cult-like, finds report into child abuse

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A cult-like evangelical Christian society at a leading private school allowed a powerful and charismatic barrister to groom and sadistically abuse boys with impunity, an investigation has found. Members of the Christian Forum at Winchester college "showed signs of what would today be described as radicalisation", said a 197-page review commissioned by the elite school into abuse carried out by John Smyth QC.

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Women’s safety app backed by Home Office is insulting, experts say

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Women's safety campaigners have called the Home Office's backing of an app that allows users to track their friends' journeys home "insulting to women and girls", arguing that it does nothing to tackle the issue of men's violence against women.

The new app provides anyone walking home at night with a monitored route on their phone. If the walker moves more than 40 metres from the route or stops for more than three minutes, the app asks if they are OK. If there is no reply, nominated "guardians" - normally friends and family - receive a notification on their phones to say there has been a deviation. They can then check on the person in question and alert the police if they are unable to do so.

The Home Office minister, Rachel Maclean, said such schemes should be part of a wider plan to make streets safer for women and girls. "We need a whole-of-society approach to tackling violence against women and girls, and I welcome initiatives from the private sector that deliver on this aim," she said.

Anna Birley from Reclaim These Streets, which was set up after the murder of Sarah Everard, said safety apps did nothing to tackle the underlying problem of men's violence against women.

"The Home Office backing of this app is insulting to women and girls," she said. "We already share our location, we already ask our friends to text us when they get home, we already wear bright clothes, stick to the well-lit routes and clutch our keys between our fingers.

"It still isn't enough. Women and girls, and the steps that we take to stay safe every day, are not the problem. The problem is that male violence makes us unsafe."

The free, not-for-profit app, Path Community, is being trialled by about 500 people including Metropolitan police officers in Southwark and Lambeth in south London. It creates routes avoiding unlit streets, alleys or areas known for antisocial behaviour and users can mark where they feel unsafe.

Harry Mead, the creator, told the Guardian that anonymised information can then be shared with local councils and police to establish problem areas that may need more resources. The platform was also developing an education platform, he said.

"The underlying issue of men's violence is the core problem and everyone has to help tackle it," he said. "The app is designed to help with immediate concerns and help users feel safer. Path is our attempt to do our bit.".

Domestic violence campaigners have also raised concerns about safety apps that track movement being misused by abusers. They could "potentially extend an abuser's reach beyond the home, controlling women in spaces they previously felt safe and free", said the chief executive of Women's Aid, Farah Nazeer.

The Home Office and police and crime commissioners needed to work with the women's sector to remove barriers to their safety, she said. "There is so much work to be done to increase survivors' confidence in reporting abuse to police, tackle misogyny with public awareness and education and, of course, provide adequate funding to services supporting survivors," she said.

Mead said developers were very conscious of the issue of potential misuse and had designed the app to be as private as possible while providing maximum safety. Tracking only lasted for the duration of a set journey and users would always be contacted first to check if they were OK before a guardian was notified while a toggle to turn live tracking on and off was being developed, he added.

The shadow minister for domestic violence, Jess Phillips, said: "This seems like a sticking plaster instead of dealing with the actual problem that is men's violence against women."

A spokesperson for the Home Office said its Tackling Violence against Women and Girls strategy launched last year included initiatives and funding to target potential perpetrators and protect potential victims, including the pilot of the StreetSafe online tool, which allows the public to anonymously report areas where they feel unsafe.

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Home Office backing of women's safety app is insulting, campaigners say

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Women's safety campaigners have called the Home Office's backing of an app that allows users to track their friends' journeys home "insulting to women and girls", arguing that it does nothing to tackle the issue of men's violence against women. The new app provides anyone walking home at night with a monitored route on their phone.

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Problem of sexual abuse goes beyond the school gates

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I am writing with a heavy heart after the tragic death of Sarah Everard, the many stories of women facing sexual violence and harassment, as well as the explosion of articles about sexual abuse and rape happening in our schools. Many are saying this is partly due to the explicit, violent online pornography so readily available.

For the last nine years in the House Lords, I have been working towards bringing in measures to ensure under-18s cannot easily access online pornography, and that extreme illegal violent pornography is blocked. Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act, if implemented, would have made these two actions possible, but the government decided to abandon part 3 in October 2019. Interestingly, researchers at the University of Cambridge have found men who are compulsive porn users, especially from a young age, have developed an addiction similar to a cocaine addict. Also, the World Health Organization has recognised a new condition called compulsive sexual behaviour disorder - the inability to control the use of pornography, despite negative consequences.

If explicit, violent content continues to be readily available online, it's like trying to treat cocaine addicts while supplying them with cocaine at the same time. We have got to work together to make sure that we do not create a conveyor belt of sexual predators, who go on to commit violence against girls as is happening in schools.
Floella Benjamin
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords

Gaby Hinsliff ( It's a cop-out to pin all the blame for sexual abuse on schools, 2 April) is spot-on in her criticism of all responsibility for sexual violence by boys being "dumped" on headteachers. But expecting to be able to rely on parents to raise boys who will "do the right thing" ignores the lived reality of too many children. The scale of sexual violence against children by adults is staggering. Even more shameful is society's persistent refusal to acknowledge and deal with it. Sexual abuse within the home is largely invisible, unspoken, denied.

We know from Lorraine Radford's research that "a large minority of the world's children have been sexually abused and/or sexually exploited". Do not expect abusive fathers, uncles, cousins and brothers to instil a sense of what is right in their young male relatives, many of whom are being sexually abused by the same family members.

The rape and sexual abuse of children is a scourge that knows no boundaries - not of class, race, religion, wealth or position in society. More than 30 years ago, Roland C Summit wrote of victims of sexual abuse: "The small victim of a private crime must search against fear and rejection for the adult who will listen to an unwelcome, offensive account and take action." Society's continued denial of the silent, hidden anguish of so many children must stop. The time for action is now.
Sue Berelowitz
Former deputy children's commissioner for England

Teenage boys are insecure. They are desperate to "prove" their sexual experience to other boys. For some teenage boys there are only two socially acceptable emotions: laughter and anger. While I agree with Gaby Hinsliff that schools shouldn't be blamed for the abuse, we can only affect what happens in families when schools give a clear and consistent lead. From primary school onwards, boys and girls need to learn emotional intelligence and values. In secondary school, teenage boys need to be taught how to counter the dark effects of male on male insecurity.
Vivien Barr
London

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Problem of sexual abuse goes beyond the school gates | Letters

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I am writing with a heavy heart after the tragic death of Sarah Everard, the many stories of women facing sexual violence and harassment, as well as the explosion of articles about sexual abuse and rape happening in our schools. Many are saying this is partly due to the explicit, violent online pornography so readily available.

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Newspaper headlines: Omicron 'lower risk' and Covid vaccination plea

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It points out that Port Stanley in the Falklands - with a population of about 2,500 - might seem small for a city, but St Davids, in Pembrokeshire, is a city with a population hundreds smaller.

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Newspaper headlines: Omicron 'lower risk' and Covid vaccination plea

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It points out that Port Stanley in the Falklands - with a population of about 2,500 - might seem small for a city, but St Davids, in Pembrokeshire, is a city with a population hundreds smaller.

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Billie Eilish inspires awkward but vital conversations about porn

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illie Eilish has just turned 20. Last week, talking to the radio host Howard Stern on SiriusXM, she discussed the impact that viewing pornography online, at a young age, had had on her. She explained that she was about 11 when she first saw pornography, and that it had given her nightmares, and affected her understanding and expectations of what sex should be. "I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn," she said.

The statistics about the age at which children first see pornography online, and the speed at which watching porn becomes normalised, particularly for teenage boys, make for grim reading. In 2019, the British Board of Film Classification commissioned a survey that suggested 51% of 11 to 13-year-olds had seen pornography online. In the majority of cases, this was accidental, and for younger children, in particular, it was traumatic. The study also revealed a disparity between what parents and children understood about the culture of sexual content: only 25% of the parents surveyed thought their child had seen pornography online, while 63% of those parents' children said that they had seen it.

The facts are plain, whether they are palatable or not: pornography is easy to access, and is very likely to be seen by those far below any age restrictions, which are hard, if not impossible, to enforce. Also last week, the children's commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, urged parents to "talk early, and talk often" to children about pornography and sexual harassment. She acknowledged that the conversation can be hard, but advised that parents and carers should "create the culture before the crisis. Children want to talk to their parents and carers about this. We know this because they've told us," she said.

There was a small ripple of backlash to what Eilish had to say, from pro-porn advocates who argued that she was treating all pornography as the same "bad" sort. I'm not sure that she should have had to assess the ethics of types of sexual content at that age, but what matters is that we listen to what she has to say, at 19, about her experiences of easily accessible and socially acceptable viewing of pornography.

To hear someone who has recently lived that and is contemplating its impact on her is a crucial piece of the puzzle, particularly for older generations whose experiences will have been so vastly different. It is a tricky conversation, but one that must be had.

Gregg Wallace, adjusting the menu to meet shifting tastes

Gregg Wallace: host of the MasterChef: The Professionals spinoff. Photograph: Mike Marsland/WireImage

It is the time of year for the bombastic television finales to roll out, and after Succession turned a steady season into a magnificent one with a pat of Tom Wambsgans' shoulder, and ended what might be its loveliest run in recent memory, MasterChef: The Professionals also crowned its winner with an emotional and tense last episode.

I am a huge fan of the Professionals spinoff, which borrows Gregg Wallace from the original as host. The winner, Dan Lee, delighted everyone with his drool-inducing menu. I would like to try pretty much everything he made.

As a vegetarian, I will have to make do with drooling; as with most cooking programmes, MasterChef: The Professionals is heavy on meat and fish. Both the Vegetarian and Vegan societies last week criticised the show for its reliance on meat: their analysis showed that by the end of the semi-finals, only 10 out of 100 savoury dishes were vegetarian.

Unfortunately, this was just before a finals-week episode in which the Michelin-standard food prepared by the contestants was vegetable-based and zero waste. It looked amazing. While most people still eat meat, I understand that for now the adjustment will probably have to be made by those who choose not to, though I have found a very happy middle ground.

Nigella Lawson's most recent cookbook, Cook, Eat, Repeat, offers a veggie or vegan suggestion for almost every recipe that involves meat. It's casual and easy, and keeps everyone happy.

Isabelle Huppert: in the presence of greatness

Isabelle Huppert: a career without equal. Photograph: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images

The only time I meet famous people is when I'm interviewing them, which means that I very rarely get starstruck. In those situations it would be unprofessional, I think, to let my excitable fan-girl out in full. But there have been a couple of exceptions, the most notable of which was Isabelle Huppert.

I tried to talk about films, I got tongue-tied, and I did a very poor interview because I was uncharacteristically giddy about being in a room with Isabelle Huppert, trying to talk about films. It was years ago, but I can barely think about it now without cringeing.

Then again, she is one of the greats, so perhaps it was forgivable. It was announced last week that Huppert will be given an honorary Golden Bear award at the Berlin international film festival. The lifetime achievement award will commemorate what has been "a career without equal", according to the festival's directors. Since it's looking as though we may be spending a bit more time indoors, might I suggest an Huppert marathon to while away the hours? It might be the only thing that makes the real world look cheerful by comparison.

Rebecca Nicholson is an Observer columnist

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Billie Eilish inspires awkward but vital conversations about porn | Rebecca Nicholson

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illie Eilish has just turned 20. Last week, talking to the radio host Howard Stern on SiriusXM, she discussed the impact that viewing pornography online, at a young age, had had on her. She explained that she was about 11 when she first saw pornography, and that it had given her nightmares, and affected her understanding and expectations of what sex should be.

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Billie Eilish says watching porn as a child ‘destroyed my brain’

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Grammy-winning singer Billie Eilish has spoken about an addiction to watching pornography, starting at age 11, and how it gave her nightmares and messed her up when she started dating.

Eilish, who turns 20 on Saturday, was speaking on the Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM radio on Monday.

"I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was, like, 11," the Bad Guy singer said, saying it helped her feel as if she were cool and "one of the guys".

"I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn," she added, saying she suffered nightmares because some of the content she watched was so violent and abusive.

Eilish, who was homeschooled in Los Angeles and has seven Grammy awards, is known for her often dark lyrics.

In the ballad Male Fantasy on her second album Happier Than Ever, she sings about being home alone and distracting herself with pornography as she recalls a broken relationship.

Eilish said she is now angry at herself for thinking it was OK to watch so much porn.

"The first few times I, you know, had sex, I was not saying no to things that were not good. It was because I thought that's what I was supposed to be attracted to," she said.

Eilish, who started her career wearing baggy clothes to prevent people from commenting on her body, became the youngest person in history to win all four of the top Grammy awards in the same year when she took home the statuettes for new artist, album, record and song of the year in 2020 at age 18.

The singer said her fame had made it hard to date.

"It's really hard to meet people when, you know, people are either terrified of you or think you're out of their league," Eilish told Stern.

In the same interview with Stern, Eilish revealed she had Covid in August and was unwell for two months and is sure she "would have died" if she hadn't been vaccinated.

"I want it to be clear that it is because of the vaccine I'm fine," she said. "I think if I weren't vaccinated, I would have died, because it was bad.

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Billie Eilish says watching porn as a child 'destroyed my brain'

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Grammy-winning singer Billie Eilish has spoken about an addiction to watching pornography, starting at age 11, and how it gave her nightmares and messed her up when she started dating. Eilish, who turns 20 on Saturday, was speaking on the Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM radio on Monday.

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Naomie Harris says ‘huge star’ groped her during audition

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The Oscar-nominated actor Naomie Harris has said a #MeToo incident on one of her recent projects prompted the "immediate" removal of the perpetrator, as she recalled another occasion when she was groped by a "huge star" who faced no censure.

Harris, who played Moneypenny in the last three Bond films and was up for an Oscar for her role in Moonlight in 2017, declined to name either of the men allegedly responsible.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, she recalled an incident she has previously discussed in which "a huge, huge star" put his hand up her skirt during an audition.

"What was so shocking about it was the casting director was there and the director, and of course no one said anything because he was - he is - such a huge star. That was my only #MeToo incident, so I felt very lucky given how rife that behaviour was.

"Now things have definitely changed: I was on a project where there was a #MeToo incident and there was no hesitation - [the perpetrator] was immediately removed," she said.

Harris's comments came as Claire Foy, who starred in Netflix drama The Crown, discussed violence against women as she promoted her latest project, A Very British Scandal. She plays the Duchess of Argyll, who was shamed in the 1960s after being secretly photographed giving oral sex to a man who was not her husband. A judge in her divorce case dismissed the duchess as "a completely promiscuous woman".

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Foy said: "Sex is the one thing you can get a woman on. It is a quick way to make a woman subhuman, wrong and weird. It happens in every walk of life."

Foy spoke forcefully about how women are often given the responsibility for their own safety, such as what to wear, or what hand signal to give if they are in danger, rather than the onus being on making men less violent.

"Hundreds of women get attacked every single day," she said. "It makes me so angry. How you can look into making women safe and think about getting more policemen - who women don't trust - to look after them? We don't need looking after. We don't. We need people to stop killing and raping us. That's all. It's simple. And it's awful to say, but that's men. It's time to say: 'You sort that out. What are you going to do?'"

She added: "It's like saying that lots of dogs are killing cats, so let's lock cats up and let dogs loose. It doesn't make any sense. Women basically just get lumped with the emotional burden and responsibility of everything."

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Naomie Harris says 'huge star' groped her during audition

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The Oscar-nominated actor Naomie Harris has said a #MeToo incident on one of her recent projects prompted the "immediate" removal of the perpetrator, as she recalled another occasion when she was groped by a "huge star" who faced no censure.

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Instagram influencer received 'hundreds' of obscene photos

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A social media influencer said she had been the victim of cyber-flashing for the past 10 years.

Podcaster Jess Davies, from Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, said she had received hundreds of unsolicited obscene images.

Calls are growing for cyber-flashing to become a crime as part of measures to toughen laws on online safety.

The UK government said its plans would "force social media companies to stamp out online abuse".

Jess, who has 151,000 followers on Instagram, said she has become almost "numb" to the images she is sent, adding: "What's illegal offline should be illegal online."

"I am probably cyber-flashed every month, maybe more, depends really on what I share.

"This has been going on for 10 years. I've probably received literally hundreds of these images. The kind of stuff I get is close-up shots, or of them performing a sex act.

"When I receive the images it makes you feel a bit dirty and you start thinking, 'why me? Why have they sent them to me, is it something I've done'?"

She fears it has become "normalised" online, compared to what is tolerated in public.

"If you had thousands of men flashing you in the street, that's illegal, and that would be a huge problem and a huge conversation, so why are we accepting it online?"

Cyber-flashing has become increasingly common during the pandemic as people spend more time online, campaigners have said.

On Tuesday, a joint committee of MPs will publish its report on the UK government's draft Online Safety Bill, aimed at introducing tougher regulations for social media firms.

Cyber-flashing is not included in the bill, but campaigners and MPs backing the change hope it will be added and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said it should be illegal.

The campaign to criminalise the act of cyber-flashing is a personal one for Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnor Fay Jones.

At 17, she was flashed by a man in Cardiff.

"I picked my dad up late at night from in town and as I was walking towards the restaurant where my dad was, this guy walked towards me and exposed himself to me.

"I have never forgotten it. It stayed with me for such a long time. But, every time I tell that story somebody goes 'Oh, yeah, when I was 19 or when I was on a bus this happened. It's all too common."

But there are concerns about the bill making its way through Parliament.

Labour's shadow Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens argues that it "isn't good enough" and needs "a lot of changes".

But the Cardiff Central MP does believe that cyber-flashing will eventually be included in the bill.

"It's a promise from the prime minister," she said. "We will be holding them to account on this because they've made it clear that it should be accepted."

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: "Our comprehensive online safety laws will force social media companies to stamp out online abuse alongside other abhorrent behaviour on their platforms.

"Failure to act could mean multi-billion pound fines up to 10% of their global turnover and having their sites blocked."

The UK government hopes the bill will prevent the spread of illegal content and activity such as images of child abuse, terrorist material and hate crimes.

Ministers hope it will protect children from harmful material and protect adults from legal, but harmful, content.

Some critics say the bill harms free speech, while others say it fails to recognise the high levels of online violence toward women - the NSPCC said it must be strengthened and have children at its heart.

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Instagram influencer received 'hundreds' of obscene photos

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A social media influencer said she had been the victim of cyber-flashing for the past 10 years. Podcaster Jess Davies, from Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, said she had received hundreds of unsolicited obscene images. Calls are growing for cyber-flashing to become a crime as part of measures to toughen laws on online safety.

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Women's safety: Why I shared pictures of my assault online - BBC News

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Spiking: Public inquiry asks people to share stories

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Spiking: Public inquiry asks people to share stories

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An inquiry is launched following recent reports of women being spiked by injection on nights out.

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Student stalked at university calls for change

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A woman who was stalked and threatened with kidnap by a fellow student has told the BBC her university's failure to act swiftly left her terrified.

Katie, which is not her real name, now wants universities to overhaul policies on how to deal with sexual misconduct.

Sahil Bhavnani admitted stalking, and was given a four-month suspended sentence this week.

Oxford Brookes University said it had learned lessons from the case.

Katie's tormentor was expelled from the university this month, although he had admitted stalking her in September.

Bhavani, who's 22, was given a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, after the court heard he would leave the UK within days.

Katie, 26, told the BBC she hoped this would mark the end of an ordeal which began in Spring 2020, when she first encountered Bhavnani.

Over the following months, despite barely knowing her, he became obsessed, and started sending cards, gifts and messages.

'Physically sick'

Katie said things got worse at the beginning of this year.

"I started getting six-minute long voice messages saying he was going to make me be his wife, make me have his children, make me live with him," she said.

She repeatedly made it clear that she was not interested in any kind of relationship, and warned Bhavnani she would contact the police if he continued to harass her.

"It made me feel physically sick, especially as his friends started warning me he was going to try something on, possibly sexually," she said.

One weekend in March, when she was away visiting her family, a bundle of post - including parcels and a 100-page letter - arrived at her student house.

Katie's housemates opened them at her request.

A lot of them described what Bhavnani wanted to do to Katie, she said, including "carving my face, chaining me up, breaking my legs, feeding me bits of water".

"It was terrifying, because he didn't seem to understand that he was obsessed, and I felt at times he had opportunities where he could try to do those things."

Katie reported it to the police, who she says treated the threats seriously from the outset, and provided outstanding support.

She was interviewed and Bhavnani was arrested.

Over the following days, Katie emailed student support, her academic adviser and the student investigation team at Oxford Brookes University.

But Katie said she was told they could not investigate Bhavnani's conduct until the criminal justice process had finished.

It suggested she should delay reporting it until after the court case. Then, when she insisted she report the threats, she was asked to use an online tool that made it difficult to build up a picture of months of harassment.

Oxford Brookes, like other universities across the UK, was relying on guidance from 2016 on how to handle student misconduct.

This advice says there should be no duplication of the criminal process, save for any precautionary measures.

It is intended to make sure students who are accused are also treated fairly.

Bhavnani was initially facing two stalking charges, although the more serious one was later dropped after he agreed to admit the lesser offence.

'The university failed me'

Katie didn't leave her house alone for months, and her housemates organised their lives to make sure someone was always there with her.

The fear was beginning to take its toll and she started failing modules.

Now, looking back, she feels let down: "The university failed me in every way throughout this."

Katie said it took four months for any precautionary measures to be put in place by the university.

In September, the updated conditions allowed Bhavnani access to the library during the week, while Katie was allocated only weekends.

It was the same month he admitted the criminal offence of stalking, entering a guilty plea.

The court had put a restraining order in place, and Bhavnani was also told by the university not to approach her.

But in October, he broke his bail conditions and turned up on Katie's doorstep while she was in the house.

The police arrested him and remanded him in custody.

A few days later, the university finally suspended him and banned him from campus.

Katie said that throughout she felt the university had failed to act quickly enough to ensure her safety, or take the impact on her seriously.

"I felt like my emotions and how it was making me feel wasn't justified," she said. "I was made to feel like a bit of a burden."

The court heard Judge Nigel Daly delayed sentencing because the university had initially said it would not deal with the disciplinary issues until January 2022.

Judge Daly said Bhavnani's behaviour justified the top end of sentencing allowed for this stalking offence, and said the restraining order preventing contact with Katie would remain in place for five years.

'Ridiculous'

Katie wants to move on, but not without advocating for change.

"I just feel as though the university makes a massive deal on its website that they have zero tolerance for harassment, sexual misconduct, and they just don't."

She wants Oxford Brookes and other universities to toughen their disciplinary codes so they can act - where there is clear evidence - to put protective measures in place, or suspend students.

"It's ridiculous," she added. "If I got punched in the face at university and rang the police first because I'm scared, then the university wouldn't do anything. That does not safeguard anyone."

In a statement, Oxford Brookes University said it wanted to reassure students that it took "reports of harassment, violence or abuse very seriously" - but added that lessons would be learned.

"In this individual case, following a university conduct hearing, the most severe penalty available was applied by the University and the student was expelled from Oxford Brookes," it said.

"We accept, however, that there are lessons we can learn for the future, especially in cases where student behaviour may also constitute a criminal offence."

It said it had committed to a full independent review of the way it had handled the case. It added that the university had met Katie and her representative, and would "have a continuing dialogue with them to help improve our policies and processes even further".

"We remain committed to a zero tolerance approach to any violent, abusive or harassing behaviours, and the penalty we have applied demonstrates that we will not accept behaviour that threatens the safety of members of our community," the statement added.

Have you experienced stalking or sexual violence at university? Please tell us your story in confidence by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

Or use this form to get in touch:

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your comment or send it via email to HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any comment you send in.

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Student stalked at university calls for change

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A woman who was stalked and threatened with kidnap by a fellow student has told the BBC her university's failure to act swiftly left her terrified. Katie, which is not her real name, now wants universities to overhaul policies on how to deal with sexual misconduct.

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Swimming master ‘played sharks and nibbled young girls’ - The Times and The Sunday Times

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Swimming master 'played sharks and nibbled young girls' - The Times and The Sunday Times

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A former teacher at a private school has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that young girls complained about a male swimming teacher "playing sharks" and "nibbling" their legs. Andrew Alexander, 69, taught at Fettes College in Edinburgh from 1990 to 2012.

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My therapist told me that for those of us working to address inequities, biases and harms in academia, our work comes out of our rage, our pain, and our marginalization, and you can’t sit in that constantly like others in the academy. That shit hit my chest.

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Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D. (she/her)

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
My therapist told me that for those of us working to address inequities, biases and harms in academia, our work comes out of our rage, our pain, and our marginalization, and you can’t sit in that constantly like others in the academy. That shit hit my chest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D. (she/her)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D. (she/her)

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My therapist told me that for those of us working to address inequities, biases and harms in academia, our work comes out of our rage, our pain, and our marginalization, and you can’t sit in that constantly like others in the academy. That shit hit my chest.
— Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D. (she/her) (@adapperprof) December 6, 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
My therapist told me that for those of us working to address inequities, biases and harms in academia, our work comes out of our rage, our pain, and our marginalization, and you can’t sit in that constantly like others in the academy. That shit hit my chest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.users[].name
Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D. (she/her)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
My therapist told me that for those of us working to address inequities, biases and harms in academia, our work comes out of our rage, our pain, and our marginalization, and you can’t sit in that constantly like others in the academy. That shit hit my chest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
My therapist told me that for those of us working to address inequities, biases and harms in academia, our work comes out of our rage, our pain, and our marginalization, and you can’t sit in that constantly like others in the academy. That shit hit my chest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.author.name
Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D. (she/her)

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Sam and Chris Gould: Failures made after twins reported sex abuse

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Police and other agencies made failures after twin sisters, who went on to take their own lives, reported sexual abuse, reviews have found.

Sam and Chris Gould, from Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, died by suicide four months apart, aged 16 and 17.

Reviews found agency responses at the "critical juncture" after the girls reported abuse were "fragmented".

Both police forces involved in the dropped investigation said they had made changes after the twins' deaths.

In May 2016, Chris, then 14, disclosed she and Sam had been sexually abused from about the age of six into their teenage years, and named the alleged perpetrator.

Hampshire Police investigated the case, but at the time the girls were struggling with their mental health and did not wish to give video evidence.

The case was then closed, but the separate case reviews said it appeared police guidance had not been followed and "alternative ways of giving evidence should have been explored".

Sam died at home in September 2018, while Chris died in January 2019 while she was an informal patient at a mental health unit.

The reviews added: "The absence of joint planning between the two police forces involved, and the lack of multi-agency partnership working, suggested that the importance of seeking justice over time was not recognised.

"This was a critical juncture. The response by services at the time was fragmented and very shortly professionals and services from across the multi-agency network withdrew in a misguided belief that they had no ongoing role."

The author of the reviews, Bridget Griffin, said learning from the cases was "substantial" and that she hoped, if changes were made, "children will be less likely to take their own lives and be better supported to reach their potential".

If you are feeling emotionally distressed, help and support is available via BBC Action Line

Police told children's services they were taking no further criminal action two months before telling Sam, Chris and their parents, the reports also revealed.

The girls' mother, Jane Cannon, said: "We waited months... only to be told 'Oh, we decided not to take any action a few months ago - didn't anyone tell you?'. We were left in limbo. It was an appalling situation to be in."

Their father, Ian Gould, added: "After they told us, it was actually only two weeks after that that Chris had a suicide attempt."

The serious case reviews also found:

Hampshire Police asked Cambridgeshire Police to contact people who Chris had spoken to about the abuse "but there is no evidence that this was taken forward"

Communication and joint working between Sam's school, children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and the local authority was "ineffective"

Children's services often took no further action when a referral came in, which seemed to stem from a lack of clarity about their role and a misunderstanding of legislation

There was a "missed opportunity" to understand "Sam's internal world", when she was pulling out her hair and eyelashes at a young age and had displayed sexually inappropriate behaviour

Sam's three months without having a care coordinator, aged 16, was key to why there was "little communication and no joint work" between her school and CAMHS during that period

The reviews also raised concern around the "considerable variation" nationally on whether services were available for the diagnosis and treatment of borderline personality disorder in adolescence, despite "sound evidential basis" for it.

In a statement released after the reviews' publication, Ms Griffin said her reports "highlight the pernicious impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) on children and young people".

"The serious case review does not state with any certainty, either way, that were the multi-agency services in place, the girls would still be with us today," she said.

"What we can say with a degree of certainty is that had the CSA not taken place both Sam and Chris would very likely not have suffered mental health difficulties and therefore may never have taken their lives."

Among their 11 recommendations, the reviews state the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership (CPSCP) should request a national review about multi-agency service provision to children at risk of harm as a result of their mental health needs.

It should also raise its concerns with government over the burden of proof in child sexual offences cases, and "facilitate a dialogue" over the approach to borderline personality disorder.

Mr Gould said: "Time and time again, serious case review after serious case review, inter-agency working comes up as a key element in the failings, and yet nothing happens; it carries on the same.

"We are determined to make sure the recommendations go forward and that real action comes from them."

Cambridgeshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable Vicki Evans said the force had since "strengthened our approach and responses to the investigation of childhood sexual abuse".

"We adopt a holistic approach, which recognises strength in jointly working with our partner agency colleagues throughout the course of an investigation, and signposting to support services. We are committed to embedding the learning from these serious case review," she added.

Hampshire Police said it would review the report's recommendation about working with other agencies "particularly where complainants live in another force area, and consider whether there are any further measures we can take".

A statement added: "Following the girls' tragic deaths, we carried out an internal review of the investigation, and changes to some internal processes regarding how these cases are graded and allocated have already been made."

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) has since introduced a CAMHS crisis team and a new home treatment team.

A spokesman said: "We welcome the findings of the serious case reviews... and we will continue the improvements already made to our services, working with partners to ensure all learnings from the reviews are acted upon."

Carol Anderson, chief nurse at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said it was "committed to making further improvements on the basis of the recommendations, building on the changes that we have already implemented".

Cambridgeshire County Council said it has since worked alongside health partners to review support to young people and their families prior to admission and upon discharge and revised its Education Health and Care Needs Assessment policy.

A spokeswoman said: "The loss of any child is profound, and we cannot even begin to imagine the grief experienced by Sam and Chris' parents, family and friends."

She said the authority welcomed the reviews' "thorough, detailed and thoughtful analysis" and they had taken forward recommendations in both reports.

"We continue to work with our partners to improve best practice and information sharing in cases such as these.

"The importance of our responsibilities, support and advocacy for young people in challenging and vulnerable situations is very much at the forefront of our service," she added.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

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Sam and Chris Gould: Failures made after twins reported sex abuse

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Police and other agencies made failures after twin sisters, who went on to take their own lives, reported sexual abuse, reviews have found. Sam and Chris Gould, from Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, died by suicide four months apart, aged 16 and 17. Reviews found agency responses at the "critical juncture" after the girls reported abuse were "fragmented".

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Campaigners threaten UK legal action over porn sites’ lack of age verification

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The UK data watchdog must introduce age verification for commercial pornography sites or face a high court challenge over any failure to act, children's safety groups have warned.

The demand in a letter to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) states that the government's failure to stop children seeing porn is causing lifelong trauma and putting children at risk of abuse and exploitation. It urges the ICO to use the powers under the recently introduced age appropriate design code (AADC) to introduce rigorous age-checking procedures for publicly accessible porn sites.

However, the ICO has said the code is not intended to impose age assurance measures on porn sites. The author of the letter, John Carr, secretary of the Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety, which represents 11 major children's charities, including the NSPCC, Barnardo's and the Children's Society, has written to the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, urging her to reconsider.

"You remain the only person in the country with the power to act to protect another generation of children from the distorting impact of open access to pornography, with all the dreadful and now well-documented effects we know that has on society, particularly in respect of violence towards women and girls. I ask you to reconsider your decision not to act against pornography websites."

John Carr, secretary of the Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety. Photograph: James Drew Turner/The Guardian

It comes after a survey of Barnardo's frontline workers found high levels of concern among staff about the impact of porn on children, particularly those who are already vulnerable.

Barnardo's child exploitation experts told the Guardian they are seeing growing numbers of children acting in highly sexualised ways or being vulnerable to abuse because they have been watching porn.

"It is everywhere; on the school bus, in the corridors, in their social media feeds. Children should not be seeing this material, it is a form of trauma and abuse to let them see it," one case worker told the Guardian.

A number of recent studies have shown the increasingly detrimental ways that porn affects young people, including that children as young as seven are unintentionally stumbling across it online. A PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) study found that when children viewed porn, 70% frequently saw men portrayed as dominant (compared with 17% frequently seeing women as dominant) and 35% frequently saw "consensual" violence towards women (compared with 9% frequently seeing this towards men).

In an interview with the Guardian, Carr said the coalition was prepared to seek a judicial review if the ICO declines to act. "We are asking the information commissioner to act now, using the powers she has under the AADC, to ensure porn companies don't let children on their sites. If she doesn't, we will look at a judicial review of her decision not to act," he said.

Carr added that "this is really about age verification" - a form of age assurance where users are asked to provide formal proof of their identity through passports, credit cards or other forms of identification known as hard identifiers.

The AADC applies to websites and apps likely to be accessed by children, such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, and aims to prevent misuse of their data, such as use of "nudge" techniques aimed at encouraging children to give up more of their privacy or spend more time online. In some cases, it recommends use of age assurance measures - such as age verification - if a service is deemed to pose risks to children. Companies that breach the code face fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover.

The ICO challenge comes as the government prepares to put landmark internet safety legislation through parliament. The online safety bill charges social media and tech companies with a duty of care to protect children from harmful content, but campaigners have warned that in its draft form it does not go far enough to protect minors.

The bill does not make overt references to age assurance - the umbrella term for measures that check an app or website user's age - but a private member's bill introduced by crossbench peer Beeban Kidron, the architect of the AADC, could provide a pathway. The age assurance (minimum standards) bill sets out a framework for introducing basic standards of age-checking online and could effectively be included in the online safety bill if, for instance, Ofcom - the regulator charged with implementing the bill - is given powers within the legislation to introduce new standards.

Kidron said age assurance has been promised since 2017, when it was a part of the Digital Economy Act expressly for porn, but was never implemented. "Parents, parliament and the press want a solution to the pornography issue, and in that sense tomorrow is not soon enough. But pornography is only one of many issues children face online. I brought the bill forward to put a stop to the commercial exploitation of kids - it is absolutely urgent. My bill will do what John [Carr] wants and more."

Plans to introduce an age verification system in the UK for online porn were abandoned in 2019, when then culture secretary Nicky Morgan told parliament that the government would instead focus on including child protection in the online safety bill.

Vanessa Morse, CEO of the Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation, said: "It is unconscionable that the government is delaying age verification until the online safety bill comes into force when it could be brought in now. Make no mistake, porn sites are not neutral or naive. They are actively engaging all users, including children, through data surveillance, SEO and algorithms, to get them to stay on their sites and return more often because this makes them money. This is exploitative and an unlawful misuse of children's data and it must be stopped. We want the ICO to investigate this."

Kidron added that age assurance is not just needed to monitor use of commercial porn sites but also to prevent social media sites from profiteering from children under the age of 13 - the age barrier for most platforms. "Let's face it, if they know a kid is 12 then they have to answer the question, why are they recommending [content about] extreme diets, self-harm or suicide?"

The ICO's executive director for tech and innovation, Stephen Bonner, said the AADC is intended for sites that are used by children or likely to be used by children - and therefore does not apply to adult content sites. "The goal of the code is to make [relevant] sites child-friendly. There are some sites that we do not expect children to use. In those cases, the code does not apply. It would be ridiculous to make adult sites child-friendly."

Bonner said data protection alone "can't solve this problem". He added: "It is already illegal to sell age-restricted products to children in the offline world and it's going to take working together with government, other regulators and civil society to effectively take action on these complex online issues."

The threat of action against the ICO comes after a judge last week gave campaigners permission to bring a judicial review against the government over its failure to enact the Digital Economy Act.

The case, which will be heard in the new year, centres on the argument that children are being harmed and their human rights affected by the failure to introduce age verification. It is brought by two campaigners, 20-year-old Ava Vakil, a student and activist involved in raising the issue of sexual violence among teenagers, and Ioannis Dekas, a father of four who is giving evidence about the impact of porn on his own children, despite his efforts to stop them watching it.

Vakil said: "It is incredibly important that we prevent access to pornography for young children, particularly given that so much of pornographic content online includes sexual violence and the objectification of women. Most children encounter porn online before they talk about sexual consent in PSHE or at home, creating a culture in which sex becomes deviant and pornographic, and not based in shared trust and intimacy.

"It is simply unbelievable that children are prevented from seeing a rated-18 film in the cinema, and yet can access sexually violent and explicit content with a few taps of their fingers."

In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood ( Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International

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Campaigners threaten UK legal action over porn sites' lack of age verification

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The UK data watchdog must introduce age verification for commercial pornography sites or face a high court challenge over any failure to act, children's safety groups have warned. The demand in a letter to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) states that the government's failure to stop children seeing porn is causing lifelong trauma and putting children at risk of abuse and exploitation.

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Oxford postgrad says sexual assault complaint was met with hostility

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Students at an Oxford University college have accused staff of disregarding their welfare after a postgrad who alleged she was sexually assaulted said she was treated with hostility after making a complaint.

Harriet, a PhD student at Balliol, who has multiple disabilities, alleged she was repeatedly sexually assaulted in 2019 by a fellow student. The college has announced an independent inquiry into its handling of her complaint after she said staff made inappropriate comments about her appearance and behaviour and concluded no further action should be taken without interviewing or accepting evidence from her.

An open letter by the newly formed Balliol Community for Safety to the master of the college, Helen Ghosh, condemning Harriet's treatment has been signed by hundreds of Oxford students as well as supporters including equality campaigners, Labour MP Jess Phillips, and Oxford Labour councillor Shaista Aziz.

Students have protested outside the college and, at a carol service last Sunday, a group wearing red stood up and turned their backs whenever Ghosh or the college chaplain spoke.

Harriet, who first detailed her experience in an al-Jazeera investigations documentary said she had hoped speaking publicly would lead to reform. "This has not been the case," she said. "In fact, Balliol has only become more adversarial in response to what it perceives as threat to its reputation. Balliol's handling of this whole matter has left me exhausted, highly anxious, and deeply depressed, on top of the extremely painful process of dealing with the assault itself."

Among allegations of Balliol's inappropriateness made by Harriet, who has endometriosis, chronic gastritis and interstitial cystitis, were:

The chaplain, Bruce Kinsey, asked her if she was aware of the effect she had on men, called her very physically attractive and said she should be wary of the impact on her alleged attacker.

Kinsey told her: "You don't want to piss people off who you might meet again downstream."

When she reapplied for disability access accommodation she received an email from the praefectus, Tom Melham, implying that her behaviour was a problem, including drinking.

Harriet provided audio and video recordings respectively, which appear to back up the last two allegations. She decided not to go to the police because of concerns at how protracted and traumatic the process would be but said the college's disciplinary procedures contain a catch-22, allowing it to decline to act if there is no police report but if there is a police inquiry, to delay its own investigating until that has concluded.

She said she was not convinced the independent inquiry would effect real change, while Balliol Community for Safety also has concerns about it. Co-founder Clara Holcroft said: "We worry that this ... will be something promised to placate us with no plans in the meantime. What we're trying to emphasise is that these sexual assaults will continue and the system is unfit for purpose."

The group, which says Ghosh has yet to meet its members, has vowed to protest until its demands are met. They include staff being held accountable for their actions, and given comprehensive training to deal with complaints, as well as a review of cases reported in the last three years.

Another co-founder of the group, Fiónn McFadden, said: "All we want is for students in the college to feel safe and, when that safety is interrupted, that they can turn to these welfare systems that are supposed to protect them and not feel like their problems are going to be made worse."

A statement from the college and on behalf of Ghosh, Kinsey and Melham, said there were "factual inaccuracies" in the account of Harriet's experience, which the Guardian put to ​it, but it would be inappropriate to comment ​further given the pending inquiry.

It said a QC would shortly be appointed to conduct the inquiry, with the college "committed to acting on the lessons which emerge from the inquiry".

It said: "The ​c​ollege continues to offer support to those involved, and in parallel has also initiated an externally supported general review of its welfare provision, to which Balliol students are being encouraged to contribute​."​

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Oxford postgrad says sexual assault complaint was met with hostility

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Students at an Oxford University college have accused staff of disregarding their welfare after a postgrad who alleged she was sexually assaulted said she was treated with hostility after making a complaint. Harriet, a PhD student at Balliol, who has multiple disabilities, alleged she was repeatedly sexually assaulted in 2019 by a fellow student.

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CEDAW evidence re online domestic abuse  by Kelly Johnson 

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CEDAW evidence re online domestic abuse  by Kelly Johnson 

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Dr Kelly Johnson speaking about online and domestic abuse of women

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Many disabled women are assaulted each year. Forgetting my own rape feels impossible

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I have been a wheelchair user for a number of years, due to a progressive condition. I have been a rape survivor for four. These things are more connected than you might think.

I first met Alex (not his real name) four years ago. We were at a house party. He was drunk and I was sober; this would become a running theme.

I remember thinking how gorgeous he was. Months passed and we fell out of touch, apart from the odd message, until one night, quite unexpectedly, he came to my apartment. I had messaged him earlier in the day, hoping to catch up in the coming weeks over a coffee. Hours later, he messaged me saying he was out and wanted to talk. I had already taken my makeup off and was in my pyjamas, so I said he could come over for a bit instead. He was very drunk; I was sober. Even so, I was in my own home, in my pyjamas; I don't remember feeling unsafe. We were friends.

Alex was intriguing and intelligent, but I can honestly say that I wanted and expected no more than a chat that night. He had other things on his mind. After we had chatted for a while, he picked me up from my wheelchair, carried me to my room and put me on my bed. I joked about getting an early night. He took his clothes off and straddled me, his arms either side of me. I froze. "Come on, it's just a bit of fun," he said, adding: "We're both adults; it doesn't have to mean anything," as he urged me to let him go down on me. I can't remember how many objections I put up, but when they didn't work, I gave up, fearing violence if I persisted, and resigned myself to what was to happen: my "friend" was going to have sex with me without my consent - to rape me.

Afterwards he had me weighed down under an arm and a leg, so when he passed out, I couldn't move. I lay there until he rolled over and fell back asleep. I wriggled to the side of the bed, slid to the floor and crawled to the kitchen to get my wheelchair. I didn't sleep, instead focusing on how dry and chapped my lips were. Since then, I haven't been able to sleep without applying lip balm.

The next day, I was confused. I texted my friends. Half of them encouraged me to be happy; I used to have a crush on him, after all. The other half pointed out the red flags I had been so willing to ignore when he showed up to my apartment stinking of wine.

I messaged him and we met to talk about it in person a few days later. He cried, worried about how this was going to affect his career prospects. I felt bad for him, so I decided to protect him by not reporting it. I thought that, if I tried to forget about it, in a week or so it would be over. I tried to find a way to soothe the feelings I had that somehow I was guilty for what had happened. In my mind, sexual assaults were things that happened between strangers in dark alleyways, not between two friends at home. I didn't fit the black-and-white image of a sexual assault survivor - I use a wheelchair, after all - and this only added to my confusion.

A week later, I was still sad and confused and experiencing pain and tenderness between my legs, so I went to the emergency room. There, the nurse referred me to the sexual assault treatment unit, where I finally realised that I had been sexually assaulted. The doctors used a mirror to show me what I couldn't see. My vulva and my inner thighs were bruised black and blue. I wince just thinking about it now. It finally dawned on me that he had always meant to force himself on me.

Outside of this small, white hospital room, the whole world was talking about sexual assault. The #MeToo movement was at its peak. Women were being praised and encouraged to come forward with their stories. But those who did were Hollywood actors who had suffered assault at the hands of their directors or co-stars, or employees who had endured countless advances by their bosses. There was never any mention of people with disabilities.

Yet disabled women are almost twice as likely to have experienced sexual assault as non-disabled women. They are also more than five times as likely to have experienced sexual assault as disabled men. I know that my story is not the only one of its kind out there, even if it feels as if it is.

But I didn't think my ego could stand another blow by admitting I was more of a victim than I wanted to be. My disability automatically made me a victim; how could I be a sexual assault victim, too?

The fear of not being believed deters reporting in many cases of sexual assault. But I was preoccupied with the idea that my case would be questioned because of my disability. More than one person I considered to be a friend asked about my sexual ability when I confided in them about the assault, as though this was the most important question. If my friends reacted this way, how could I expect others to be compassionate?

Some days I feel determined to share my story, and report it, for all the disabled women who can't. Some days I just want to forget the whole thing and continue with my life. But forgetting seems impossible. I wonder if he is as haunted by it as I am.

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Many disabled women are assaulted each year. Forgetting my own rape feels impossible

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I have been a wheelchair user for a number of years, due to a progressive condition. I have been a rape survivor for four. These things are more connected than you might think. I first met Alex (not his real name) four years ago. We were at a house party.

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‘I was sexually assaulted in uniform. I can’t get over it’ - The Times and The Sunday Times

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‘I was sexually assaulted in uniform. I can’t get over it’ — The Times and The Sunday Times

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Joanna was still at school when she was accepted by the Royal Navy. She “aced” the application, was offered a bursary and chose her A-levels based on what she wanted to specialise in. She began at officer level alongside her male peers, who were mostly graduates. “Because I had just left school, it…

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'Terrified' victim of Hull grooming gang beaten and burned during violent rape - Sky News

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'Terrified' victim of Hull grooming gang beaten and burned during violent rape - Sky News

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An alleged victim of a Hull grooming gang has told how she was bitten, beaten and burned during a violent rape - and that police and her school had concerns she was being abused but failed to stop it.

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'Terrified' victim of Hull grooming gang beaten and burned during violent rape - Sky News

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'Terrified' victim of Hull grooming gang beaten and burned during violent rape - Sky News

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An alleged victim of a Hull grooming gang has told how she was bitten, beaten and burned during a violent rape - and that police and her school had concerns she was being abused but failed to stop it.

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Domestic and sexual abuse of silenced Sikh women revealed

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"Toxic cultural practices" and a lack of culturally sensitive services means many women who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the Sikh community are suffering in silence, according to the first comprehensive report into the issue.

The report by Sikh Women's Aid (SWA), the UK's only frontline service for Sikh women, will be released later this week to coincide with the launch of the United Nations' women's annual 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. It creates a harrowing picture of the prevalence and effect of domestic abuse and child sexual abuse in the Sikh community.

The research was carried out over a four-month period over the summer, during which time SWA distributed anonymous surveys within the community across the UK.

Researchers received replies from almost 700 respondents, and, of those, 70% said they had experienced domestic abuse, nearly half had experienced incidents with more than one perpetrator, including female members of their family. Over a third of respondents said that they had experienced child sexual abuse, and of these incidents, one in seven involved more than one perpetrator. Most victims knew their abuser, and nearly half of the incidents of abuse took place at home.

Gender equality is one of the core beliefs of the Sikh faith, but, says the SWA, patriarchal societal practices stemming from cultural traditions, such as concepts of honour, mean that many survivors are afraid to speak out.

Awareness of these issues is growing, however, following several high-profile cases, including the murder of 43-year-old Ranjit Gill from Milton Keynes earlier this year. She was stabbed 18 times by her "dominating and bullying" husband Anil Gill in an alcohol and cocaine-fuelled attack.

While domestic and sexual abuse affect all ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds, the founders of Sikh Women's Aid and authors of the report, Sahdaish Pall and Sukhvinder Kaur, said that a lack of specialist support that met the needs of women in the Sikh community was creating "a generation of young women who are completely lost".

Ranjit Gill, who was murdered by her husband Anil Gill. Photograph: Thames Valley Police

The findings of the report will be used by SWA to create services tailored to the specific needs and cultural nuances that victims of abuse within the Sikh Panjabi community face.

"Out of all the South Asian communities, Sikh women are the least likely to come forward about abuse. We come across as a very affluent, educated and giving community, and that reputation makes it very difficult for Sikh women to come forward," said Pall.

"There are issues specific to our culture, like the link between alcohol and domestic and sexual violence. We have a huge drinking culture among men, and the amounts people consume exacerbate issues."

"There is also a lack of education around things like coercive control. The parental generation's view is if you haven't been beaten up, that's not abuse. There's often an intergenerational and toxic normalisation and acceptance of violence against women."

The taboo around discussing sexual abuse is particularly widespread, and issues such as victim-shaming and cultural concepts of honour and shame, which have no basis in religious teachings, are often weaponised against victims to ensure their silence.

Nimrit*, 39, from London, who was abused by her uncle between the ages of eight and 13, said that her family's fear of not finding a good husband for her meant she had to stay silent about her abuse.

"From the outside, we looked like the perfect family, but behind closed doors was another story. My uncle was a pillar of the community who was active in the gurdwara [Sikh place of worship]. He would come and stay at our house and during those visits, he would abuse me," she said.

"Eventually, I told my cousin and made her promise not to tell anyone, but she told her mum who told my mum. My mum slapped my face and began sobbing and saying 'who will marry you now?' She said if I wasn't a virgin, I would have to get married straight away, so I lied and said he only touched me. We had to keep it a secret from my dad because it was her brother, and to this day he hasn't a clue. It kills me when I hear him saying nice things about my uncle.

She continued: "I had to keep it a secret to protect the family but secrets like that eat you up inside. A guy from uni once tapped my shoulder to get my attention and I screamed in his face.

"I had an arranged marriage and the physical side of the relationship was hard as I got flashbacks but I couldn't tell my husband about my past so I just shut down. I'm just trying to live a normal life.

"There is more awareness about these issues in the community now compared to when I was a kid but people need to speak out without being punished for it or the abuse won't stop."

Sexual abuse in the Sikh community is "almost like the perfect crime" according to Sukhvinder Kaur because the likelihood of someone being prosecuted is so low. "Not only is there a lack of convictions but the community is geared towards protecting the reputation of perpetrators," she said.

One of the most sensitive issues the report tackles is grooming. The report found that the widely held perception within the community that the majority of victims of sexual abuse were exploited by non-Sikh grooming gangs is false. This finding in particular has led to a backlash against the report's authors.

"There is more abuse taking place where the perpetrator is known to the victim and the family. Our community is in denial about that," said Kaur.

Dame Vera Baird, the victims' commissioner for England and Wales, who will be at the official launch of the report later this week, said that it highlighted the need for "culturally appropriate support organisations for black, Asian and other minority women who are neglected by the criminal justice system and in the provision of specialist support".

"I welcome this report although it is hard to [do that] when it shows that there is rampant hidden violence against women and girls in the Sikh community," she said.

Former chief prosecutor, Nazir Afzal added: "It's a testament to the courage of SWA that we have this report at all, given the hostility they have faced. Nothing in this report should surprise anyone involved in safeguarding.

"Any strategy that focuses on what men 'should do' rather than [on] male violence will always fail. Any successful response will involve addressing male power while simultaneously supporting victims."
* Not her real name

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Domestic and sexual abuse of silenced Sikh women revealed

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"Toxic cultural practices" and a lack of culturally sensitive services means many women who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the Sikh community are suffering in silence, according to the first comprehensive report into the issue.

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Do problems in private schools fuel sexual misconduct in universities? | Wonkhe

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A running theme here on Wonkhe is the extent to which any issue that involves students (at least in England) is assumed to be the sole responsibility of the higher education bit of the Department for Education, or the Office for Students, or vice chancellors - and therefore any fix is to be funded through tuition fees.

Take the launch of the Home Office's new strategy on tackling violence against women and girls, which comes in the slipstream of both the Sarah Everard case and a large volume of disclosures of harassment and assault in education on the Everyone's Invited website.

Here's the bit on higher education:

The Department for Education will work with the Office for Students to tackle sexual harassment and abuse in higher education settings, including within universities. We are absolutely clear that sexual harassment is in no way tolerable on campuses or in online environments and will continue to encourage higher education providers to review and update their systems, policies and procedures, in line with the Office for Students' statement of expectations on harassment and sexual misconduct before the next academic year.

These steps also include exploring further options to ensure that all providers see the statement of expectations as the minimum standard for addressing sexual harassment on campus and how the Office for Students can take action against providers who are not doing enough to support students experiencing harassment. This will include the Office for Students considering options for connecting its statement of expectations to its conditions of registration. The Department for Education will also review options to limit the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements in cases of sexual harassment within higher education.

If that all sounds familiar - that is indeed because we've heard it all before. Unlike, for example, the detailed and substantial work that Ofsted has been busy with in schools, we have an unfunded strategy that appears to consist of OfS re-releasing a "statement of expectation" on higher education providers that has no basis in formal regulation, and both Michelle Donelan and Nicola Dandridge writing a letter to VCs.

In fact in many ways it's even weaker than when then Business Secretary Sajid Javid wrote to then Universities UK boss Nicola Dandridge to call for action in 2015.

You can see what's happened here - the civil servants in the Home Office have done the ring around and asked DfE what its plans are for inclusion in the masterplan, and so DfE has responded by saying what it said a few weeks ago. The problem is that like all wicked policy problems, this issue needs a proper, substantial, multi-layered and multi-agency plan to both understand it and tackle it.

Actually, to be fair, there is another bit on HE:

In addition, the Department for Education is exploring how university students might be utilised to support peer delivery of RSHE lessons in schools. A 2019 Universities UK report highlighted that there is significant value in building relationships with young people prior to entry into Higher Education, as it helps ensure continuity of messaging and cultivate active leadership in students from the outset. Some Higher Education providers already deliver sessions focusing on consent in schools, and we are exploring how these models may be further expanded.

No doubt lots of students will support that idea. But the brass neck cheek of a government doing pretty much nothing to tackle the issue in higher education, while expecting students to volunteer to deliver consent training in schools is really quite breathtaking.

These are the sounds of the wickedness

When I'm working with SUs on policy issues, one of my warnings to them is to not depend too much on a single solution that allows people to think that box is ticked. The delivery of project work can be satisfying but illusory - because without impact evaluation and a wider strategy, it's often just well meaning pebbles in the ocean.

An example I often use is that of consent education. In the suite of behavioural change policy solutions that I discussed in our series on Wicked Problems last year, the "voluntary online sexual consent module" is your classic egalitarian solution to a deep and complex problem, which not only fails in context but also on its own terms - because anyone that's ever collected the stats will tell you that hardly anyone takes part, and the characteristics of those that do are much more likely to be victims than perpetrators.

So it was interesting to see HEPI's summary Sex and Relationships Among Students report back in April, which tested student attitudes towards to consent education. Both the Policy note and coverage surrounding it looked at whether the focus for it should be on pre-university, the induction period or on an ongoing basis - and also asked whether there should be a pass/fail test.

I tend to have a natural kneejerk reaction when it comes to findings of any sort that allow us to say "well that's schools' problem" or "well it's an issue in wider society too" - because that can also be a way of letting the sector off the hook for the environment it has to create and nurture.

But on the other hand, I'm wary of putting too much "onto" universities where tuition fees end up paying for wider failings of the state, and where those who don't go to university are left unprotected. And anyway - if there's a problem in schools, that means children could be being harmed, and that means we should be concerned.

Put another way - if we believe in a "consent test", shouldn't it apply at Level 2 or Level 1? Why are we saying that people who wander off to university should understand consent as a minimum but we don't care about anyone else?

So now it's been released as HEPI publishes the fascinating full report and survey data, time for some interrogation into the full dataset. The widely reported stat was on students having to "pass an assessment to show that they fully understand sexual consent" before entering higher education. But the polling also included a question on whether students should have to pass such a test before even being allowed to apply - a different kind of minimum entry criteria, if you like - and there some 48 per cent agreed and 25 per cent disagreed.

Students very much appear to want this sorted at school or college.

Split difference

One of the intriguing things about that finding was the splits - because we know from other types of behaviour change work with students that blanket/universal/one size fits all approaches don't really work. Health warning here - once we're down to looking at differences between student type, we're in the realms of problematic claims to real representativeness because of the low numbers involved. Nevertheless there's a tale in HEPI's data that at the very least deserves, as they say, further research - precisely because of the potential policy implications.

In other words, a dive into the splits suggests an important hypothesis for further testing that is very much about the sort of pre-university education that students at a given higher education provider experienced.

On that question of whether students should have to pass such a test before being allowed to apply, the average of 48 per cent falls to 38 per cent for men at state schools, and up to 57 per cent for men who went to a private school.

What that doesn't tell us is whether that's because men who were state schooled think such a test would be unnecessary or whether they'd fail it. Nor does it tell us whether those men that went to a private school think more of them need the education, or more would ace the test - so I dived in further to look at some of the other differences on school type and gender.

There's a couple of questions in there on attitudes that raise all sorts of questions about what is happening in the private school system. Just 14 per cent of students agree that "stereotypes are harmless to others", and 70 per cent disagree. But that changes to 26 per cent agree and 48 per cent disagree for those who went to a private school. And that changes even further to 36 per cent agree and 31 per cent disagree for privately schooled men. There's a very interesting "culture wars" finding there that deserves interrogation.

A similar question asking if respondents would agree that "rigid gender norms are harmless" generates similar results. There, 18 per cent of students generally agree and 52 per cent disagree. That's partly about the gender of respondents (men runs at 31 per cent agree but women 10 per cent) and school (16 per cent agree state school, 39 per cent agree private school). Fuse that intersection and you get 9 per cent of state schooled women saying that rigid gender norms are harmless, and 52 per cent of privately schooled men (hereafter PSMs).

Confidence is a preference

Those numbers would be fascinating enough in the context of many of the culture wars "debates" in the press - but there are significant differences on other issues.

When students were asked to reflect on being able to "explain what constitutes sexual consent to a friend", 44 per cent strongly agreed, but just 26 per cent of PSMs agreed. "Confidence in understanding what constitutes sexual harassment"? 40 per cent "very confident", but just 33 per cent PSMs ticked that box. "How to communicate sexual consent clearly"? 47 per cent very confident, 34 per cent for PSMs. And "confidence over what constitutes sexual consent"? 59 per cent general, 37 per cent PSMs. There the differences between gender generally are negligible - it's the school type that generates the big differences:

You get this far and you start to wonder if there's a real problem emanating from our private school system, which then feeds the universities that disproportionately recruit from those schools, which are then disproportionately featured on Everyone's Invited.

Peer pressure

The survey asked to what extent respondents would say they are confident in "how not to put pressure on others to have sex". 61 per cent ticked very confident, falling to 41 per cent of private school males. And particularly strikingly - confidence on "sexual consent is just as important in and out of a relationship" runs at 72 per cent agree generally, but just 52 per cent for males from PSMs:

Some of the other findings also tell a story. "I have used apps to seek casual sex / hook-up sex" runs at 10 per cent generally, but 28 per cent for PSMs. "I have paid for sex with other people" is 2 per cent but 12 per cent on private school males. At university, "I have had sex under the influence of alcohol" is 65 per cent generally but 80 per cent for PSMs. "I use contraception to protect against unplanned conceptions / unwanted pregnancy" is 61 per cent generally but 42 per cent for PSMs. And "I or a partner (former or current) have experienced an unintended / unplanned / unwanted pregnancy while at university" is 3 per cent generally but 10 per cent for PSMs:

Is education the answer?

There really is a lot potentially going on here - yet it may not be the case that changes at school would fix it (notwithstanding heavy caveats on not just numbers but the repeated use of "school" to denote "pre-university" in the survey). When asked if the education they received at school prepared them for sex and relationships at university, 27 per cent agree generally, 43 per cent from private schools agree and 52 per cent of PSMs. That said, when asked whether university is "not the right place to teach young people about sex and relationships", 19 per cent agree rising to 51 per cent of PSMs.

Is there something going on with pornography instead? Of those who've watched it, "My use of porn concerns or worries me" is 19 per cent agree generally, 23 per cent for men but 40 per cent agree for PSMs. And "My use of porn gives me confidence for sex with other people" shows up as 30 per cent generally for those who have watched it as a student and 43 per cent for PSMs. Preferring porn to actual sex in the porn user group has 30 per cent PSMs agree but just 9 per cent overall.

Without a larger sample that spans the whole of the education system, it's difficult to draw clear conclusions from the data - not HEPI's fault but definitely something that DfE and/or the Home Office ought to be thinking about if they were developing a serious system-wide response to everything from 2010's Hidden Marks to 2021's Everyone's Invited.

It's also important that we don't demonise PSMs - but also crucial that we take the potential differences seriously too, particularly given there are differences in the way the state and private school sectors are regulated.

What's clear is that students' attitude to university-based consent education may be telling us much more about perceived failings in their own and others' prior education than it tells us about university interventions per se.

And if this evidence was borne out in a bigger dataset, universities ought to be asking themselves "how many young men from private schools do we recruit" when assessing risks to their students - and making them pass a test on sex and relationships that covers much more than consent.

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Do problems in private schools fuel sexual misconduct in universities? | Wonkhe

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A running theme here on Wonkhe is the extent to which any issue that involves students (at least in England) is assumed to be the sole responsibility of the higher education bit of the Department for Education, or the Office for Students, or vice chancellors - and therefore any fix is to be funded through tuition fees.

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The Met’s safety scheme put to the test: What really happens when you ‘Ask for Angela’? - Metro

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We put the Met's safety scheme to the test: What really happens when you 'Ask for Angela' - Metro

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'Who's Angela?,' was the response of one confused barman, whose venue had Ask For Angela posters displayed.

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Oxford Brookes gang rape claim led to students' expulsion

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"As part of our commitment to maintaining an inclusive and respectful culture, we are reviewing behaviour and practices within Brookes Sport, including all clubs, to ensure that policies and practices promote the culture, behaviours and values we expect of all our students," it added.

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Oxford Brookes gang rape claim led to students' expulsion

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"As part of our commitment to maintaining an inclusive and respectful culture, we are reviewing behaviour and practices within Brookes Sport, including all clubs, to ensure that policies and practices promote the culture, behaviours and values we expect of all our students," it added.

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Camilla says men must do more to tackle sexual violence - as Andrew legal battle continues - inews

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Camilla says men must do more to tackle sexual violence - as Andrew legal battle continues - inews

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The duchess's speech comes as lawyers representing Prince Andrew continue to pursue the dismissal of a civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, a survivor of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein

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Our mission is to prevent violence against women and girls by addressing its root causes. We work with men and boys to change long-established, and harmful, attitudes, systems and behaviours around masculinity that perpetuate inequality and violence.

Our work is preventative; we want to stop violence before it starts.

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Our mission is to end men's violence against women, once and for all. We work with men and boys to challenge cultures that lead to harassment, abuse and violence.

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University founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell threatened to punish students who reported rapes, report says - The Independent

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University founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell threatened to punish students who reported rapes, report says — The Independent

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‘It honestly felt like they were trying to sabotage my case,’ student says after reporting sexual assault to school

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Sex education: Could consent classes help end harassment?

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Sex education: Could consent classes help end harassment?

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Young teenagers are gathered in groups in the school library, talking about sexual harassment. They are discussing different scenarios and whether the person involved can ever give their consent to them - whether that's holding hands, sharing photos online or being followed.

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Two-fifths of police forces in England and Wales lack rape units

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Two-fifths of police forces in England and Wales lack rape units

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Exclusive: campaigners concerned after FoI revelation that 17 forces do not have specialist Rasso units

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'Girls are very much involved in exploitation in gangs'

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Over a third of children in gangs are girls but often they remain hidden.

Kendra Houseman was groomed into gangs when she was 13 years old.

Now a gang exploitation consultant, she explains the role of females within a gang structure - and the impact this can have on them.
Producer: Amanda Kirton Camera: Brandon Brown Additional Editing : Tom Beal

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'Girls are very much involved in exploitation in gangs'

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Over a third of children in gangs are girls but often they remain hidden. Kendra Houseman was groomed into gangs when she was 13 years old. Now a gang exploitation consultant, she explains the role of females within a gang structure - and the impact this can have on them.

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor reveals she was raped at the age of 17

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By Mark Savage
BBC Music Correspondent

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has spoken out about being raped at the age of 17 by an older musician.

Writing in her new memoir, Spinning Plates, the singer says she lost her virginity in the incident at the apartment of a guitarist, who was 29.

"I heard myself saying 'No' and 'I don't want to,'" she writes, "but it didn't make any difference".

"He had sex with me and I felt so ashamed. It was how I lost my virginity and I felt stupid."

She continued: "I felt grubby, but also unsure about my own feelings as I had no other experience to compare it with."

In the book, which is being serialised in the Mail On Sunday, Ellis-Bextor describes how she met the musician - who she calls Jim - at a gig while she was studying for her A-Levels.

He invited her back to his flat to see his history books "and before I knew it we were on his bed and he took off my knickers".

The singer, who is now 42, says she was left confused following the incident as the public perception of rape in the 1990s "was not to do with consent" but rather "something you associated with aggression".

"But no one had pinned me down or shouted at me to make me comply," she says, adding that "the things I saw and read and the way sex was discussed [at the time] made me believe I didn't have a case."

If you have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.

According to Rape Crisis England and Wales, this perception still persists - with many victims believing they have no case if there are no physical signs of struggle or assault.

The charity says there "are many reasons why someone might not scream or struggle". In fact, it says, "quietness and stillness might suggest a lack of those crucial elements of freedom and capacity".

Misconceptions like these can make it difficult for survivors to seek help, with many fearing they will not be believed, it adds.

'Not listened to'

Ellis-Bextor says she had decided to share her own experience to help people understand "where the line between right and wrong lies".

"My experience was not violent," she writes in her memoir. "All that happened was I wasn't listened to. Of the two people there, one said yes, the other said no, and the yes person did it anyway.

"The older I've become, the more stark that 29-year-old man ignoring 17-year-old me has seemed."

As the mother of five sons, Ellis-Bextor says she had been careful to introduce them to the concept of consent.

"I want to raise considerate, kind people who can take other people's feelings into account," she writes.

"I want them to actively want the other person to be happy, too, rather than just stopping because they have to."

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor reveals she was raped at the age of 17

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By Mark Savage BBC Music Correspondent Sophie Ellis-Bextor has spoken out about being raped at the age of 17 by an older musician. Writing in her new memoir, Spinning Plates, the singer says she lost her virginity in the incident at the apartment of a guitarist, who was 29.

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Activision Blizzard confirms SEC investigation into sexual misconduct allegations

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Activision Blizzard has confirmed an investigation by US regulators following allegations of sexual misconduct and discrimination at one of the world's most high-profile video game companies.

The California-based company said on Tuesday that it was complying with a recent Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena sent to current and former employees and executives and the company itself on "employment matters and related issues".

The Wall Street Journal had reported on Monday that the SEC was investigating how the company had treated complaints of sexual misconduct and workplace discrimination and had subpoenaed senior executives including the CEO, Bobby Kotick, a well-known tech billionaire. An SEC spokesman declined to comment.

Activision Blizzard - the maker of popular video games including Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft - also said on Tuesday that it had cooperated with an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation into employment practices and that it was working with multiple regulators "on addressing and resolving workplace complaints it has received" and that it was committed to making the company "one of the best, most inclusive places to work". It has hired a new "chief people officer" from Disney.

The company's shares have dropped 20% in two months as legal woes build over an alleged culture of discrimination against women and minorities.

In late July, California's civil rights agency sued the company, alleging gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The lawsuit accused the multibillion-dollar company of violating the state's civil rights and equal pay laws, and painted a disturbingpicture of life for female employees including claims of rampant sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation and a "frat boy" workplace culture.

The lawsuit has prompted a reckoning within the video gaming industry and saw hundreds of Activision Blizzard employees stage a walkout over the summer.

Kotick has said in response to the lawsuit that the company is "taking swift action" to "ensure a safe environment" for staff. "There is no place anywhere at our company for discrimination, harassment or unequal treatment of any kind."

Meanwhile, a shareholder lawsuit in August said the company failed to disclose to investors that it was being investigated in California and that it had workplace culture issues that could result in legal problems. The shareholder suit noted unhappiness within the company, saying more than 2,000 current and former Activision employees signed a petition criticizing the company's response to the California suit as "insulting" and saying they did not trust leadership to "place employee safety above their own interests".

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Activision Blizzard confirms SEC investigation into sexual misconduct allegations

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Activision Blizzard has confirmed an investigation by US regulators following allegations of sexual misconduct and discrimination at one of the world's most high-profile video game companies. The California-based company said on Tuesday that it was complying with a recent Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena sent to current and former employees and executives and the company itself on "employment matters and related issues".

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Deputy head charged with aiding rape of girl - The Times and The Sunday Times

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Deputy head charged with aiding rape of girl - The Times and The Sunday Times

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A deputy head teacher of a Church of England school has been charged with facilitating the rape of a girl. Julie Morris, 44, who has taught at St George's Central primary school near Wigan for nearly a decade, is alleged to have aided and abetted the rape of a girl aged under 13.

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Girl, 15, bravely speaks about Bournemouth beach rape in Crimewatch appeal - Evening Standard

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Girl, 15, bravely speaks about Bournemouth beach rape in Crimewatch appeal - Evening Standard

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A teenager who was raped in the sea in front of oblivious beach-goers in Bournemouth has spoken out about her ordeal.

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'Heroes' beaten unconscious trying 'to stop 2 girls being raped' in street - The Sun

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'Heroes' beaten unconscious trying 'to stop 2 girls being raped' in street - The Sun

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TWO hero men were reportedly beaten unconscious in the street after they tried to stop two girls being raped.

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Reports of sex abuse between children double in two years

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Reports of children sexually abusing other children doubled in the two years to 2019, according to police figures obtained by BBC Panorama.

The programme has followed up on research from 2017, when police recorded almost 8,000 reports of abuse among under-18s in England and Wales.

Yearly reports have risen to between 15,000 and 16,000, but cases fell in 2020-21 during the pandemic.

In about 10% of reported cases the alleged abuser was aged 10 or under.

And overall, a big majority of cases involved boys abusing girls.

Thirty-four of the 43 police forces in England and Wales responded to Freedom of Information requests asking for the number of sexual offences reports, including rape and sexual assault, where both the alleged perpetrator and victim were under 18.

The figures did not include the online offence of non-consensual sharing of private sexual images or videos.

The Labour MP and former teacher, Emma Hardy, said: "I still think that those figures might be an underestimation of the extent of the problem, because not all cases ended up going to the police. Not all things are reported."

Watch Panorama: Who's Protecting Our Kids?, presented by Mariella Frostrup, at 19:35 BST on Monday on BBC One

Dr Rebekah Eglinton, chief psychologist for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, said unwanted touching, as well as being pressured into sharing nude photos, had become a part of everyday life for children "to the point where they wouldn't bother reporting it".

"What children have said to us is that sexual violence is now completely normalised through social media platforms [and] through access to online pornography," she told Panorama.

Figures collated from the FOI responses of 38 police forces between April 2016 and March 2017 showed there were 7,866 reports of sexual abuse among children.

Two years later, in 2018-19, the number of reports had doubled to 16,102.

In the latest full year of data, 2020-21, some 10,861 reports of abuse were made, despite months of lockdown and closed schools due to the Covid pandemic.

Analysis of the new figures shows about nine in 10 of the alleged abusers were boys. And the abuse was carried out on girls in about eight in 10 cases.

Danielle's story

Danielle* was about 12 years old when she was harassed and sexually assaulted for a year by a boy from her school.

"Every time we met he groped me and touched me up. He would ask if we could have sex, and I would always say no, but he would just end up just touching me anyway," she says.

"We were walking up the stairs at one point and he grabbed up my skirt and it really made me upset. I started crying at that point, I think it felt like I had no space."

She began self-harming, but she didn't want to tell her parents or her teachers about the abuse.

"I thought that I would get in trouble. I just thought I was the one to blame, they would just get very angry with me and they wouldn't understand," she says.

Eventually, she told her teachers what had been happening. She says they did not inform the police or her parents, and said she and the boy should meet to apologise to each other.

"It was a very small meeting room that we were sat in," Danielle says. "I don't remember looking at him. The meeting itself included just one teacher and she just kind of like said, 'Oh you know, just talk about your feelings and just work things out between you two.'"

Danielle has since told her parents and left the school.

The new figures come a year after the website Everyone's Invited was set up as a place where survivors could post anonymous accounts of abuse they say they had suffered.

The website has now collected more than 50,000 testimonies.

Soma Sara, who set up the project, told BBC Panorama: "I think there is a lack of understanding of the kind of impact of this kind of behaviour, even the smaller transgressions of sexual bullying and harassment that happens to young people.

"But those experiences have an impact. They are traumatising, and especially when they perpetrated over a long period of time."

In April, the NSPCC set up a helpline for school pupils, commissioned by the Department for Education, in response to the testimonies collated via the Everyone's Invited project. The charity says it has been contacted 653 times since its launch.

Conversations around boundaries and consent will depend on many things, including how old and mature the child is, says the children's charity, the NSPCC. But they have a few tips to make conversations easier:

Pick a time when your child's relaxed, not too tired, and when there aren't other people in your family around. You could also choose a neutral place, like on a walk or in the car

Listen openly and non-judgementally - and reassure them that they can tell you anything they need to and you won't blame them in any way

Explain that consent both online and offline means actively saying yes, using both words and body language

Explain that they should always get consent from the other person for any type of sexual activity, and those involved have the right to change their mind at any time

Remember - children under 13 cannot legally consent to any type of sexual activity

Try to have realistic expectations - think regular, shorter conversations rather than trying to cover everything at once. And it might not go as well as you're hoping, but give it time as they might restart the conversation a few days later

If a child discloses abuse off the back of a conversation, it's important to let them know it's not their fault, that they've done the right thing by telling you and that you'll take them seriously. Explain to them what you'll do next and report it as soon as possible to the NSPCC helpline or police so the details are fresh in your mind and action can be taken quickly.

In June, the education watchdog Ofsted found that sexual harassment has become "normalised" among school-age children.

It found that girls in particular were frustrated that there was not clear teaching about what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

And many teachers said they lacked knowledge on topics such as consent, healthy relationships and sharing of sexual images.

Last year the government introduced a new mandatory curriculum for England, covering topics like sexting and porn.

Grace Academy in Solihull runs a project in conjunction with a charity in an effort to stop problems arising, and has set up schemes to address potentially harmful sexual attitudes and behaviour at the school before it starts.

This includes a campaign to call out sexual bullying, and pupils can scan a code on their phone to report abuse anonymously.

But head teacher Darren Gelder said schools can only do so much: "We do seem to be becoming the point of call really for a very, very wide and varied range of societal challenges that have come at the door of schools.

"I don't think anyone is shying away from that in education, but obviously we have limited resources."

Children's minister Vicky Ford told Panorama that schools were very clear about the government's safeguarding guidance, saying training was available and the government would be rolling out extra support to designate safeguarding leads in another 500 schools.

She said: "We've strengthened [guidance] every year, specific advice on keeping children safe and education from sexual abuse."

She added the government had also set up partnerships so that schools can work together with police, health authorities and social services on safeguarding issues.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, teacher guidance on abuse between pupils is less comprehensive than in England.

The Welsh government said it had issued guidance to support schools in creating a safe learning environment for children.

The Scottish government said it was working with charities Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance to pilot a new approach to tackling gender-based violence in schools.

In Northern Ireland, a spokesman from the Department of Education said they had been "engaging with other UK jurisdictions on actions being taken in response to the Everyone's Invited website and is currently considering... what specific action is required."

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues in this article, information and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

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Reports of sex abuse between children double in two years

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Reports of children sexually abusing other children doubled in the two years to 2019, according to police figures obtained by BBC Panorama. The programme has followed up on research from 2017, when police recorded almost 8,000 reports of abuse among under-18s in England and Wales.

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Girl who took own life after rape ordeal and bullying will 'never be forgotten' - The Mirror

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Girl who took own life after rape ordeal and bullying will 'never be forgotten' - The Mirror

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WARNING: DISTRESSING DETAILS - Semina Halliwell died on June 12, after spending four nights in hospital. Her grief-stricken mum, Rachel, said she had reported being raped and then bullied online

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‘Creepy’ Channel 4 Naked Attraction London bus ads to be removed

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A "creepy" advert that suggests someone on a bus "loves being naked" is to be pulled, following a social media backlash over the campaign for the new series of the Channel 4 show Naked Attraction

Transport for London said it would remove the advertising campaign from the side of double-deckers after members of the public voiced concern on social media that it could put passengers, including children, at the risk of sexual assault.

The campaign features a black poster with white arrows pointing at passengers seated in the top deck of London buses, indicating that one passenger "loves Naked Attraction", one "hates Naked Attraction" and a third "loves being naked", in reference to the popular Channel 4 and Global media group dating series in which people choose a prospective partner after viewing their naked body parts.

The most prominent criticisms have been levelled at the campaign featured on London buses after writer and marketing professional Tracy King condemned the posters as "non-consensual" and "creepy" on Twitter. She wrote: "Passengers shouldn't have to navigate 'am I the butt of a joke on my way to work today.'"

However, it is understood that the banners have also been placed in other towns, with Reading Buses stating on Twitter that they are in the process of removing them from their fleet.

The Advertising Standards Authority said it had received 26 complaints about the ad arguing that it "sexualises members of the public and does so without their consent". Some complainants objected that it encourages and makes light of sexual assaults which take place on public transport, an ASA spokesperson added.

ASA is currently assessing the complaints. If the ad is determined to be in breach of its rules, sanctions will be implemented, starting with removal of the ads from circulation and potentially resulting in statutory action from Trading Standards or the Competition and Markets Authority.

A TfL spokesperson said: "We work tirelessly to ensure public transport is a safe environment for everyone, and any report of sexual assault or inappropriate behaviour is investigated and treated extremely seriously.

"We have reviewed the ad campaign and decided that it should not continue to run on our bus network. It will be removed as soon as practicable."

A Channel 4 spokesperson said: "It was not our intention to cause offence and we apologise if it has done so."

A YouGov poll published at the beginning of 2020 indicated that more than half of women using public transport in London had been sexually harassed.

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'Creepy' Channel 4 Naked Attraction London bus ads to be removed

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A "creepy" advert that suggests someone on a bus "loves being naked" is to be pulled, following a social media backlash over the campaign for the new series of the Channel 4 show Naked Attraction Transport for London said it would remove the advertising campaign from the side of double-deckers after members of the public voiced concern on social media that it could put passengers, including children, at the risk of sexual assault.

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Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn’t easy, but could make perpetrators think twice | The Behavioural Insights Team

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Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn’t easy, but could make perpetrators think twice | The Behavioural Insights Team

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Sexual harassment on public transport is an all too common occurrence in Bangladesh and around the world , with the majority of women in many countries - and in some cases over 90 percent of respondents - having experienced sexual harassment in the past.

Many of us would like to think we'd do something to stop sexual harassment if it happened right in front of our eyes. Indeed when we surveyed over 3,000 commuters getting off public buses in Dhaka, 9 out of 10 respondents listed at least one helpful action they would take if they saw a woman being harassed on a bus.

But when trained observers took bus rides in the nation's capital, we found bystanders took action in only 1 out of every 5 cases of sexual harassment.

How could we close this intention-action gap? And how might we know if it worked? We partnered with , the world's largest NGO, to see what we could learn by applying human-centred design and innovative measurement techniques to this challenging problem.

Active bystander programs show promise in countering the 'bystander effect'

The study of bystander inaction dates back to at least the 1960s , when American researchers Bibb Latané and John Darley documented the "bystander effect".

In a series of experiments, passive bystanders were shown to inhibit others from acting in apparent emergencies. In some cases, this seems to occur because of ambiguity ov er whether the sit uation really requires action; if no one else is res ponding we conclude that we also don't need to respond.

Active bystander campaigns around the world, such as and Not On My Bus , have aimed to encourage us all to be allies in stopping harassment by running awareness campaigns and training programs. A systematic review of 27 studies of bystander training programs aimed at adolescents and college students found beneficial effects on knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and self-reported intervention behaviour.

A project led by our Sydney team showed that even light touch approaches can work to overcome bystander inaction. In collaboration with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, our colleagues sent a series of active bystanding emails to close to 30,000 staff and students at Victorian universities. We found that people who received the emails were 30% more likely to report having taken action in a situation where they observed sexual harassment than a control group who received no emails.

Testing a bystander nudge on public buses Dhaka

We worked with BRAC to test another light touch approach, this time targeting the millions of individuals who catch public buses every week in Dhaka. Given the importance of 'making it timely' , we designed and installed bright yellow posters inside buses so that they'd be visible to all at the moments when harassment actually occurs.

Apart from attracting attention at the right time, the posters helped bystanders to speak up by visualising three simple and safe actions to take: i) engage the person being harassed to show support; ii) politely address the harasser and ask them to move away; and iii) alert the conductor if the situation escalates, so the harasser can be asked to leave the bus.

Going one step further than with previous work, we combined surveys of passengers with structured observations conducted by trained observers. Together with , a Dhaka-based research firm, we developed an app-based survey tool to measure not only changes in awareness, attitudes and willingness to act (as previous work had done) but also actual behaviour.

We uncovered sobering new insights about the prevalence of sexual harassment in this context. In the week before the posters went up, we observed harassment on 6 out of every 10 bus trips, with physical acts such as groping and "unnecessary touching" being most common. This amounted on average to one incident every two hours and forty-five minutes. Almost all victims were women, and close to 1 in 10 women reported experiencing harassment on the bus trip they had just taken. These numbers may even underestimate the risks women routinely face, given the challenges of observing crowded spaces and eliciting candid responses about harassment.

By comparing data collected in the week before the posters went up with data from the week immediately after, we obtain a picture of the impact of the posters. We did not find any evidence that the posters changed bystander behaviour significantly in the following week. This result isn't conclusive enough for us to say for sure that the posters had no effect at all on bystander action, but may reflect additional barriers, such as uncertainty about what constitutes harassment, that the posters failed to overcome.
We did, however, observe other promising changes:

Among both men and women, we found that measures of rape myth acceptance fell by over 10%.

Men were more likely to report sexual harassment as a safety concern - possibly because the posters made the issue more salient - while the proportion of women reporting it as their biggest concern fell, from 10% to 6% - possibly because the posters provided assurance that harassment would not be tolerated.

And most promisingly of all, we observed a reduction in the number of harassment incidents per bus ride. Though the size of the change is uncertain and we cannot conclusively attribute all of it to the posters, it seems plausible that salient calls for bystanders to act could make potential perpetrators think twice.

If the threat of active bystanding really can deter individuals from harassing others in the first place, we have a huge opportunity to improve women's lives. Have a read of our full report to see how more evidence could be generated to progress the ongoing fight against gender-based violence around the world, and get in touch if you're interested in trying something similar in your part of the world!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn't easy, but could make perpetrators think twice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many of us would like to think we'd do something to stop sexual harassment if it happened right in front of our eyes. Indeed when we surveyed over 3,000 commuters getting off public buses in Dhaka, 9 out of 10 respondents listed at least one helpful action they would take if they saw a woman being harassed on a bus.

# data[].attributes.headline
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn’t easy, but could make perpetrators think twice | The Behavioural Insights Team

# data[].attributes.subject
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn’t easy, but could make perpetrators think twice | The Behavioural Insights Team

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sexual harassment on public transport is an all too common occurrence in Bangladesh and around the world , with the majority of women in many countries - and in some cases over 90 percent of respondents - having experienced sexual harassment in the past.

Many of us would like to think we'd do something to stop sexual harassment if it happened right in front of our eyes. Indeed when we surveyed over 3,000 commuters getting off public buses in Dhaka, 9 out of 10 respondents listed at least one helpful action they would take if they saw a woman being harassed on a bus.

But when trained observers took bus rides in the nation's capital, we found bystanders took action in only 1 out of every 5 cases of sexual harassment.

How could we close this intention-action gap? And how might we know if it worked? We partnered with , the world's largest NGO, to see what we could learn by applying human-centred design and innovative measurement techniques to this challenging problem.

Active bystander programs show promise in countering the 'bystander effect'

The study of bystander inaction dates back to at least the 1960s , when American researchers Bibb Latané and John Darley documented the "bystander effect".

In a series of experiments, passive bystanders were shown to inhibit others from acting in apparent emergencies. In some cases, this seems to occur because of ambiguity ov er whether the sit uation really requires action; if no one else is res ponding we conclude that we also don't need to respond.

Active bystander campaigns around the world, such as and Not On My Bus , have aimed to encourage us all to be allies in stopping harassment by running awareness campaigns and training programs. A systematic review of 27 studies of bystander training programs aimed at adolescents and college students found beneficial effects on knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and self-reported intervention behaviour.

A project led by our Sydney team showed that even light touch approaches can work to overcome bystander inaction. In collaboration with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, our colleagues sent a series of active bystanding emails to close to 30,000 staff and students at Victorian universities. We found that people who received the emails were 30% more likely to report having taken action in a situation where they observed sexual harassment than a control group who received no emails.

Testing a bystander nudge on public buses Dhaka

We worked with BRAC to test another light touch approach, this time targeting the millions of individuals who catch public buses every week in Dhaka. Given the importance of 'making it timely' , we designed and installed bright yellow posters inside buses so that they'd be visible to all at the moments when harassment actually occurs.

Apart from attracting attention at the right time, the posters helped bystanders to speak up by visualising three simple and safe actions to take: i) engage the person being harassed to show support; ii) politely address the harasser and ask them to move away; and iii) alert the conductor if the situation escalates, so the harasser can be asked to leave the bus.

Going one step further than with previous work, we combined surveys of passengers with structured observations conducted by trained observers. Together with , a Dhaka-based research firm, we developed an app-based survey tool to measure not only changes in awareness, attitudes and willingness to act (as previous work had done) but also actual behaviour.

We uncovered sobering new insights about the prevalence of sexual harassment in this context. In the week before the posters went up, we observed harassment on 6 out of every 10 bus trips, with physical acts such as groping and "unnecessary touching" being most common. This amounted on average to one incident every two hours and forty-five minutes. Almost all victims were women, and close to 1 in 10 women reported experiencing harassment on the bus trip they had just taken. These numbers may even underestimate the risks women routinely face, given the challenges of observing crowded spaces and eliciting candid responses about harassment.

By comparing data collected in the week before the posters went up with data from the week immediately after, we obtain a picture of the impact of the posters. We did not find any evidence that the posters changed bystander behaviour significantly in the following week. This result isn't conclusive enough for us to say for sure that the posters had no effect at all on bystander action, but may reflect additional barriers, such as uncertainty about what constitutes harassment, that the posters failed to overcome.
We did, however, observe other promising changes:

Among both men and women, we found that measures of rape myth acceptance fell by over 10%.

Men were more likely to report sexual harassment as a safety concern - possibly because the posters made the issue more salient - while the proportion of women reporting it as their biggest concern fell, from 10% to 6% - possibly because the posters provided assurance that harassment would not be tolerated.

And most promisingly of all, we observed a reduction in the number of harassment incidents per bus ride. Though the size of the change is uncertain and we cannot conclusively attribute all of it to the posters, it seems plausible that salient calls for bystanders to act could make potential perpetrators think twice.

If the threat of active bystanding really can deter individuals from harassing others in the first place, we have a huge opportunity to improve women's lives. Have a read of our full report to see how more evidence could be generated to progress the ongoing fight against gender-based violence around the world, and get in touch if you're interested in trying something similar in your part of the world!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn't easy, but could make perpetrators think twice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many of us would like to think we'd do something to stop sexual harassment if it happened right in front of our eyes. Indeed when we surveyed over 3,000 commuters getting off public buses in Dhaka, 9 out of 10 respondents listed at least one helpful action they would take if they saw a woman being harassed on a bus.

# data[].attributes.headline
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn’t easy, but could make perpetrators think twice | The Behavioural Insights Team

# data[].attributes.subject
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn’t easy, but could make perpetrators think twice | The Behavioural Insights Team

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sexual harassment on public transport is an all too common occurrence in Bangladesh and around the world , with the majority of women in many countries - and in some cases over 90 percent of respondents - having experienced sexual harassment in the past.

Many of us would like to think we'd do something to stop sexual harassment if it happened right in front of our eyes. Indeed when we surveyed over 3,000 commuters getting off public buses in Dhaka, 9 out of 10 respondents listed at least one helpful action they would take if they saw a woman being harassed on a bus.

But when trained observers took bus rides in the nation's capital, we found bystanders took action in only 1 out of every 5 cases of sexual harassment.

How could we close this intention-action gap? And how might we know if it worked? We partnered with , the world's largest NGO, to see what we could learn by applying human-centred design and innovative measurement techniques to this challenging problem.

Active bystander programs show promise in countering the 'bystander effect'

The study of bystander inaction dates back to at least the 1960s , when American researchers Bibb Latané and John Darley documented the "bystander effect".

In a series of experiments, passive bystanders were shown to inhibit others from acting in apparent emergencies. In some cases, this seems to occur because of ambiguity ov er whether the sit uation really requires action; if no one else is res ponding we conclude that we also don't need to respond.

Active bystander campaigns around the world, such as and Not On My Bus , have aimed to encourage us all to be allies in stopping harassment by running awareness campaigns and training programs. A systematic review of 27 studies of bystander training programs aimed at adolescents and college students found beneficial effects on knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and self-reported intervention behaviour.

A project led by our Sydney team showed that even light touch approaches can work to overcome bystander inaction. In collaboration with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, our colleagues sent a series of active bystanding emails to close to 30,000 staff and students at Victorian universities. We found that people who received the emails were 30% more likely to report having taken action in a situation where they observed sexual harassment than a control group who received no emails.

Testing a bystander nudge on public buses Dhaka

We worked with BRAC to test another light touch approach, this time targeting the millions of individuals who catch public buses every week in Dhaka. Given the importance of 'making it timely' , we designed and installed bright yellow posters inside buses so that they'd be visible to all at the moments when harassment actually occurs.

Apart from attracting attention at the right time, the posters helped bystanders to speak up by visualising three simple and safe actions to take: i) engage the person being harassed to show support; ii) politely address the harasser and ask them to move away; and iii) alert the conductor if the situation escalates, so the harasser can be asked to leave the bus.

Going one step further than with previous work, we combined surveys of passengers with structured observations conducted by trained observers. Together with , a Dhaka-based research firm, we developed an app-based survey tool to measure not only changes in awareness, attitudes and willingness to act (as previous work had done) but also actual behaviour.

We uncovered sobering new insights about the prevalence of sexual harassment in this context. In the week before the posters went up, we observed harassment on 6 out of every 10 bus trips, with physical acts such as groping and "unnecessary touching" being most common. This amounted on average to one incident every two hours and forty-five minutes. Almost all victims were women, and close to 1 in 10 women reported experiencing harassment on the bus trip they had just taken. These numbers may even underestimate the risks women routinely face, given the challenges of observing crowded spaces and eliciting candid responses about harassment.

By comparing data collected in the week before the posters went up with data from the week immediately after, we obtain a picture of the impact of the posters. We did not find any evidence that the posters changed bystander behaviour significantly in the following week. This result isn't conclusive enough for us to say for sure that the posters had no effect at all on bystander action, but may reflect additional barriers, such as uncertainty about what constitutes harassment, that the posters failed to overcome.
We did, however, observe other promising changes:

Among both men and women, we found that measures of rape myth acceptance fell by over 10%.

Men were more likely to report sexual harassment as a safety concern - possibly because the posters made the issue more salient - while the proportion of women reporting it as their biggest concern fell, from 10% to 6% - possibly because the posters provided assurance that harassment would not be tolerated.

And most promisingly of all, we observed a reduction in the number of harassment incidents per bus ride. Though the size of the change is uncertain and we cannot conclusively attribute all of it to the posters, it seems plausible that salient calls for bystanders to act could make potential perpetrators think twice.

If the threat of active bystanding really can deter individuals from harassing others in the first place, we have a huge opportunity to improve women's lives. Have a read of our full report to see how more evidence could be generated to progress the ongoing fight against gender-based violence around the world, and get in touch if you're interested in trying something similar in your part of the world!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nudging bystanders to fight sexual harassment isn't easy, but could make perpetrators think twice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many of us would like to think we'd do something to stop sexual harassment if it happened right in front of our eyes. Indeed when we surveyed over 3,000 commuters getting off public buses in Dhaka, 9 out of 10 respondents listed at least one helpful action they would take if they saw a woman being harassed on a bus.

# data[].attributes.body
Hundreds of men in Pakistan investigated over mass sexual assault on woman

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Police in Pakistan have opened cases against hundreds of unidentified men after a young woman was sexually assaulted and groped by a crowd of more than 400 men in a park in Lahore as she made a TikTok video.

The shocking assault was captured on several videos, which went viral and showed a mob descend on the woman as she was in Lahore's Greater Iqbal park making a TikTok video with friends. In broad daylight, the men picked up the young woman and tossed her between them, tearing her clothes and assaulting and groping her.

The woman registered a case against 300 to 400 unidentified persons with Lahore police, according to the case report seen by the Guardian.

"The crowd pulled me from all sides to such an extent that my clothes were torn. I was hurled in the air. They assaulted me brutally," the woman said in a statement to the police. She said the crowd also stole her money, earrings and a phone.

The footage prompted a wave of disgust and anger in Pakistan. The country's information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, said arrests were being made. Some perpetrators have been identified through CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts. Chaudhry said: "We are working on it full throttle. Prime minister has taken notice also."

Activists, politicians, celebrities, Amnesty International and people across Pakistan expressed their anger over the assault. The chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said the incident should "shame every Pakistani" and that it "speaks to a rot in our society".

The Pakistani singer Farhan Saeed said he was "disgusted, furious, heartbroken, ashamed that the men of this country keep doing these horrible acts every other day".

The Pakistani senator Sherry Rehman said a recent implosion of violence against women suggested the problem was worsening in Pakistan. "Most cases are mostly either ignored, buried or brushed aside in the patriarchal culture of silencing the victim," she said.

Pakistan is the sixth most dangerous country in the world for women, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Karachi-based organisation War Against Rape estimated that less than 3% of rape cases lead to convictions.

The prime minister, Imran Khan, has come under scrutiny for suggesting the rise in rape and assault cases was to be blamed on how women dressed and behaved. "If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact on the men unless they are robots," said Khan in an interview in June. "If you raise temptation in society to a point - and all these young guys have nowhere to go - it has a consequence in the society."

Rehman said Khan's comments were "a reflection of our culture of sexism and misogyny. By saying women should dress a certain way, he is giving oppressors and criminals against women a new narrative to justify their behaviour."

Women who have been fighting against violence and Pakistan's patriarchal system have faced attacks and abuse and been slapped with false blasphemy and vulgarity charges. The organisers of Aurat March, the annual women's march to fight for women's rights, have faced harassment by religious groups and the police.

An organiser of the march, who had eight different police cases filed against her, which were later dismissed by the court, and requested to remain anonymous, said: "The government must consider this a national crisis. I really hope the government, after all these incidents, will stop blaming victims and terming them isolated incidents. It should engage with the women's movement on the rising violence against women in the country."

In July, Khan's government was criticised by rights activists when news surfaced that it had sent the domestic violence protection and prevention bill 2021, designed to offer protection to women under threat from domestic violence, to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for review. The body, made up entirely of men, examines laws to ensure they align with the values and rules of Islam.

Last week, the CII criticised the bill and shared its concerns over "un-Islamic injunctions" and said it would destroy the institution of the family.

Chaudhry said the government was dedicated to bringing women into politics and that the prime minister believed in empowering women. However, he said that "we need to change mindsets to prevent such crimes from happening".

A female student at the National College of Arts in Lahore, requesting anonymity, said the women of Pakistan lived in fear of being groped or assaulted, and being blamed for any attacks. "I have to think twice as to what I should wear before going out just so I don't come off as provocative in front of my [taxi] driver. Now going out for work has become an extreme sport, because you must think twice and you can't be careless at any point."

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Hundreds of men in Pakistan investigated over mass sexual assault on woman

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Police in Pakistan have opened cases against hundreds of unidentified men after a young woman was sexually assaulted and groped by a crowd of more than 400 men in a park in Lahore as she made a TikTok video.

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Sentences for violent and sexual crimes fall sharply in England and Wales

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Average sentence lengths for violent and sexual offences in England and Wales fell steeply last year as the Covid pandemic also led to a huge slowdown in the number of people dealt with by the criminal justice system.

The average custodial sentence length for violent crimes fell by 22% to 18.5 months and the figure for sexual offences fell by 12% to 52 months, the lowest figure since 2011, according to official figures.

Sentence lengths fell in all categories, except for public order offences and "miscellaneous crimes against society", which both increased slightly.

The surprise falls, which come despite government rhetoric about being tough on crime, were revealed in a Ministry of Justice report that lays bare the chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the criminal courts.

The number of criminal defendants brought before the courts in England and Wales fell by nearly a third in the year to March 2021 from an already record low in 2019. The number of indictable offences heard was down 14.2% and the number of summary offences down 36.5%. The number of defendants convicted was down 33.8%.

There is no separate category in the statistics for domestic abuse, but such crimes are likely to straddle both the violent and sexual crime categories. Lucy Hadley, head of policy and campaigns at Women's Aid, said the charity was "concerned by this latest data which shows a drop in sentence length for violence against the person and sexual offences".

She said: "It is vital that sentencing for domestic abuse offences always reflects the severity of this crime. This drop in sentence lengths undermines the sentencing council's previous recognition that when an offence has taken place within a domestic context, it should be treated as a more serious crime."

Of all potential outcomes, the only rise was in the use of community resolutions, which were up 16.5%. Community resolutions have proven controversial, and there are fears that they are being used increasingly for serious crimes to avoid putting more strain to the courts.

"While out-of-court disposals can be effective in reducing reoffending for minor offences, they must not be seen simply as an alternative to court, especially for sex offences or other serious crimes," said the chair of the Bar Council, Derek Sweeting QC.

Overall the criminal justice system dealt formally with 1.07 million people in the year to March, including out-of-court resolutions, a 28% fall from 1.59 million the previous year.

The number of people charged by police remained broadly flat, down 1%, leading lawyers to warn of a backlog of cases that will take years to clear. The number of outstanding crown court cases in the first quarter of 2021 was up 45% on the same period last year, according to MoJ figures published June.

At the same time the number of defendants remanded in custody was at a five-year high, according to Thursday's figures, implying that thousands of innocent people may have languished in jail because of delays.

The reason for the fall in the length of custodial sentences was not immediately clear, and the government insisted plans to toughen sentencing for convicted sex offenders remained on track.

"We are changing the law so that sexual offenders face more time behind bars, and our rape action plan will increase the number of cases reaching court while bolstering support for victims at every stage," a spokesperson said.

The chair of the Criminal Bar Association, James Mulholland QC, suggested shorter sentences could be the result of new guidelines circulated during the pandemic.

"While sentencing principles a year ago required judges to be mindful of the potential for prison overcrowding, the reality is that a failure to invest to have sufficient court rooms open for trials has resulted in record low numbers of people being tried at all," he said.

"That has left the sentenced prison population at a decade low, while those on remand, mostly awaiting trial, now account for nearly one in five of all prisoners."

About 15% of those on remand would subsequently be cleared, he said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sentences for violent and sexual crimes fall sharply in England and Wales

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Average sentence lengths for violent and sexual offences in England and Wales fell steeply last year as the Covid pandemic also led to a huge slowdown in the number of people dealt with by the criminal justice system.

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‘Lightning rod to increase hate’: Politicians weaponise violence against Afghan women and girls to ‘legitimise racism’ - The Independent

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'Lightning rod to increase hate': Politicians weaponise violence against Afghan women and girls to 'legitimise racism' - The Independent

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'Despite misogyny being fundamental to the worldview of the far right, there are now extremists out there who are pretending to care about women's rights,' says expert

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Female vlogger dragged and beaten by a mob of 400 men who 'tore off her clothes' - The Mirror

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Female vlogger dragged and beaten by a mob of 400 men who 'tore off her clothes' - The Mirror

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A woman was savagely attacked by hundreds of men in a Pakistan park after they had gone to celebrate Independence Day. She was recording a social media video when the assault happened

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19-year-old urges men not to hit on women at gym after viral TikTok sees her approached by man in his 40s - The Independent

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19-year-old urges men not to hit on women at gym after viral TikTok sees her approached by man in his 40s - The Independent

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'Men and their egos really think they are on to something,' one viewer wrote

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Rape victims face postcode lottery in the fight for justice - The Times and The Sunday Times

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Rape victims face postcode lottery in the fight for justice - The Times and The Sunday Times

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The prospect of rape victims getting justice is half as likely in some regions compared with others, analysis of statistics shows. Victims of rape also have to wait twice as long for a prosecution in some counties. The 94.4 per cent rape conviction rate in Gloucestershire is the highest in England and Wales.

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‘Like I wasn’t a person’: Ethiopian forces accused of systematic rape in Tigray

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Ethiopian government forces have been systematically raping and abusing hundreds of women and girls in the current conflict in Tigray, according to a new report from Amnesty International.

Adding to a growing body of evidence that rape is being used as a weapon of war in the northern region of Ethiopia, Amnesty's research offers a snapshot of the extent of the crimes in an area where communications with the outside world have been deliberately restricted by federal authorities.

The report comes as Ethiopia's government this week called on "all capable Ethiopians" to join the military to stop resurgent forces from the Tigray region "once and for all", in an apparent abandonment of its unilateral ceasefire in June.

The war in Africa's second-most populous country has risked destabilising the Horn of Africa region since it broke out in November, when the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel peace laureate, declared war on the regional government, controlled by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which had ruled Ethiopia for almost 30 years.

The report, based on the accounts of 63 Tigrayan women and medical professionals, details how women have been routinely subjected to mutilation, gang rape, sexual slavery and other forms of torture by members of Ethiopia's army, the Ethiopian National Defence Force; the Eritrean Defence Forces, which are allied to Ahmed's government; and Amharan militia fighters as the Tigray conflict continues, said Amnesty.

The presence of Eritrean troops, and an Amharan militia group called Fano, fighting against the TPLF forces, has caused outrage and brought international sanctions. According to researchers at Belgium's University of Ghent, there have been at least 10,000 reported deaths and 230 massacres. Thousands have suffered horrific abuses, according to the UN.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general, said: "The severity and scale of the sexual crimes committed are particularly shocking, amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. It makes a mockery of the central tenets of humanity.

"It's clear that rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on women and girls in Tigray. Hundreds have been subjected to brutal treatment aimed at degrading and dehumanising them."

Women who fled the conflict in Tigray pray at a church near Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, last November. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

She said the Ethiopian government must take immediate action and called on the African Union and UN to bring an end to the conflict.

Rights groups and aid organisations, whose activities have been restricted, must be granted access, she added.

Twelve of the women interviewed by Amnesty said they had been raped by soldiers in front of their family members, including children. Five of the women were pregnant at the time.

In one account, a 20-year-old woman, referred to as Lena*, told Amnesty she was attacked in her home in November last year. Three armed men who spoke Amharic and wore a mixture of military uniforms and civilian clothing raped and threatened to kill her, she said.

"I did not scream; they gestured to me not to make any noise or they would kill me. They raped me one after the other ... I was four months pregnant. I don't know if they realised I was pregnant - I don't know if they realised I was a person," she told Amnesty.

A 35-year-old mother with two children, referred to as Nigist*, said she and four other women were raped by Eritrean soldiers in Sheraro on 21 November.

"Three of them raped me in front of my child. There was an eight-months pregnant lady with us, they raped her too," she said. "They raped the women and slaughtered the men."

Amnesty said Tigrayan health facilities recorded 1,288 cases of gender-based violence between February and April. Many of the women interviewed for the report said they had not visited clinics.

In May, a nun in Tigray told the Guardian that rape by security forces was occurring daily.

"Rape is starting at the age of 8 and to the age of 72," she said. "It is so widespread, I go on seeing it everywhere, thousands. This rape is in public, in front of family, husbands, in front of everyone. Their legs and their hands are cut, all in the same way."

TPLF forces have also been accused of potential war crimes during a conflict where historic and ethnic divisions have intensified. Ahmed has repeatedly said that any crimes would be investigated.

Despite Ethiopia announcing early victories, it was forced to declare a ceasefire in June as resurgent Tigrayan forces retook much of the region. TPLF forces have since marched on the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions. Ethiopia's government has vowed to summon its "entire defensive capability" against Tigray.

The conflict has led to a hunger crisis, with more than 400,000 people facing famine conditions. Nearly 70,000 people have fled to neighbouring Sudan.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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'Like I wasn't a person': Ethiopian forces accused of systematic rape in Tigray

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Ethiopian government forces have been systematically raping and abusing hundreds of women and girls in the current conflict in Tigray, according to a new report from Amnesty International.

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A Powerful New Deepfake Tool Has Digitally Undressed Thousands Of Women - HuffPost UK

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A Powerful New Deepfake Tool Has Digitally Undressed Thousands Of Women - HuffPost UK

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The AI-generated nudes, which look horrifyingly realistic, are sweeping the web.

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Fury at soft sentencing for rapists as almost 3k jailed for 6 years or less - The Mirror

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Fury at soft sentencing for rapists as almost 3k jailed for 6 years or less - The Mirror

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EXCLUSIVE: Labour's David Lammy has blasted the Government's "sickening" record since the Conservatives came to power in 2010

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R Kelly’s trial begins today and Black women are supposed to be grateful — but I refuse - The Independent

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R Kelly's trial begins today and Black women are supposed to be grateful - but I refuse - The Independent

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I'm supposed to feel relief today. If he's convicted, I'm supposed to give thanks. And if I can't bring myself to say that, I'm supposed to talk about the prison-industrial complex and how putting Kelly in prison won't help survivors. Yet all I can feel is rage

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‘Deaf is not a costume’: Marlee Matlin on surviving abuse and casting authentically

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hen early financial backers of Marlee Matlin's new film, Coda, expressed their preference for hiring big-name actors to play the roles of two major deaf characters - her onscreen husband and son - she threatened to quit. She told them that deaf actors should play characters written as deaf. "I said: time out. This is not right. It's not authentic and it's not going to work. If you go down that route, I'm out, because I don't want to be part of that effort of faking deaf. I'm glad they listened."

I can't imagine anyone not listening to Matlin. Speaking from her home in Los Angeles, she is funny and warm, but there is something intense about her, almost intimidating. She sits straight-backed, her focus sharp. She is not a woman to mince her words - which are translated from American Sign Language (ASL) by her longtime interpreter and producing partner, Jack Jason, who is also on the call from his front room. The pair have been working together since 1985, just before she won the best actress Oscar at 21 for her first film role, playing a young deaf woman in the 1986 drama Children of a Lesser God - beating Sigourney Weaver (who was up for Aliens), Jane Fonda, Kathleen Turner and Sissy Spacek.

Matlin, 55, is still the youngest best actress winner and the only deaf actor to win an Academy Award. On TV, she has picked up four Emmy nominations - one for her role in the all-time classic Seinfeld episode The Lip Reader, playing Jerry's girlfriend. In The West Wing, she played the pollster Joey Lucas. She is now working on a project about how Prince Philip's mother, who was deaf, rescued a Jewish family during the second world war. As an activist, Matlin helped push through legislation in the US requiring closed captioning on TV and streaming sites. She can't stand inequality, in her own life or anyone else's.

She says she is still boiling at a spiteful comment in 1986 by the film critic Rex Reed: "[He said] I won out of pity - that I was a deaf person playing a deaf role, how is that acting?" Her eyes widen. "There are hearing people playing hearing roles; how's that any different? That's what we call ableism, or audism." In her 2009 memoir, I'll Scream Later, she illustrated the incident with a photo of herself asleep as a child, bare bottom in the air, captioned: "Kiss my ass Rex."

'I could not wait to tell my story' ... Matlin and William Hurt in 1986's Children of a Lesser God. Photograph: Paramount Pictures/Allstar

How did those comments make her feel at the time, when she was meant to be enjoying a delicious moment of success? "They were trying to make me feel less-than as a person, 'handicapped', that I wasn't even able to do the work that I passionately loved to do," she says. "They were telling me no, that I should not be able to be in Hollywood. Who are they to tell anyone that? How dare they?"

Self-belief, and an instinct to prove people wrong, has been there since Matlin grew up in middle-class suburban Chicago. She was born hearing and became deaf at 18 months; in her early 40s, a doctor told her the cause was probably a genetic condition. A happy kid, she had lots of friends and a determined streak: "If I had my mind on a candy bar, I would get a candy bar. My drive was huge."

Matlin says she also had a temper and would get frustrated seeing her two older brothers playing music or picking up the phone to their grandmother. In retrospect, she believes she was angry at the ways being deaf isolated her. But, at about 11, something changed. "It was just a realisation of what my identity is," she says. "I knew that there was a big world. I knew somehow in my gut that I had bigger fish to fry."

Matlin went to a mixed deaf and hearing school and started acting at seven. When she was 12, Henry Winkler and his wife came backstage to meet her. Winkler became her mentor: "My Yoda". When she moved to LA in the late 80s, she crashed in the Winklers' pool house and ended up staying there for two years. She got married in their garden to Kevin, then a cop, whom she met in uniform, working on the set of a film. They have four children.

'My drive was huge' ... with her Oscar in 1987. Photograph: Bettmann Archive

Listening to her gut doesn't always make Matlin popular. In 1987, fewer than 48 hours after winning the best actress Golden Globe for Children of a Lesser God, she checked herself into rehab. She had started smoking weed just before her first year of high school and could puff through 20 joints a day. Now she was taking cocaine.

Her parents, her agents, everyone, said it was the wrong time to get clean. "No one wanted me to go into rehab, because I had just made a movie and the potential of getting an Oscar was going in my direction," she says. "And I said: 'Yeah, but to keep going I need to take care of myself first.' I had to get sober so I could think clearly." Matlin was in the Betty Ford clinic when she found out she had been nominated for the Oscar.

On the night Matlin won, she was clean and sober, but her dream-come-true moment ended miserably - with an emotionally abusive outburst by her then-boyfriend, William Hurt, who co-starred in Children of a Lesser God. He was also up for an Oscar, but missed out. He had been dreading her winning. In I'll Scream Later, she described getting into a limo after a party, shiny gold statue by her side. Then Hurt got in the car and started laying into her verbally: "What makes you think you deserve it? There are hundreds of actors who have worked for years for the recognition you just got handed to you," she remembers. "Think about that." He then told her to sign up for acting classes.

In the book, Matlin detailed the physical and emotional abuse she endured during their two-year relationship. The pair met on the set of Children of a Lesser God; she was 19 and Hurt was 35. By the time of the Oscars, they were media darlings - the onscreen couple who fell in love for real. But Matlin wrote about arguments that turned violent, that left her with bruises and cuts and, on at least one occasion, fearing for her life. She also wrote of one incident of sexual violence, after Hurt staggered into their apartment drunk at 4.30am.

Responding to Matlin's memoir, Hurt said in 2009: "My own recollection is that we both apologised and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologise for any pain I caused. And I know we both have grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good."

I ask Matlin if she found it painful to write these sections of the book. She shakes her head and fixes me a steady look with her shocking blue eyes. "I could not wait to tell my story, to talk about what I went through," she says. Did she worry her revelations could damage her career? "I didn't even give it a second thought, because it was the truth. It was my truth - and up to me to tell it my way."

No one wanted me to go into rehab, because the potential of getting an Oscar was going in my direction

Matlin's account of her relationship with Hurt was not widely reported when the book came out, but she got letters from women who had been through similar experiences. How did she feel a decade later when #MeToo exploded? "I felt a vindication. I could understand the anger. I could understand the cry for help. I applauded each person who came out and talked about their experiences and understood that it isn't easy. People got blacklisted - it happened to some of those actresses. If it happened to you, have a right to talk about it." She also writes in the book about two sexual assaults in her childhood: the first by a female babysitter and the second by a teacher - whom she later learned was a repeat offender.

Behind Matlin, I can see honours and awards. Is her Oscar there? No, it is in the dining room. "Get it for me, please," she says, looking away from the camera. Kevin, it turns out, has been in the room all along. While he is gone, Matlin tells me he recently broke his collarbone. "He's just had surgery. So I'm making him lift an eight-and-a-half pound [3.9kg] Academy Award."

I see Matlin's funny side when her husband returns and she mimics a shocked and delighted I've-just-won-an-Oscar face and starts lifting her statue like a dumbbell. She certainly gives a terrific comic performance in Coda, a heartwarming and funny family drama set in a Massachusetts fishing community. It prompted standing ovations - and a bidding war - when it premiered at Sundance.

The title is an acronym for children of deaf adults - used to describe hearing kids who grow up with deaf parents. Emilia Jones plays teenaged Ruby, the only hearing member of her tight-knit family. Matlin plays her mum, Jackie, who is baffled when Ruby joins the school choir and discovers a talent for singing ("If I was blind, would you like to paint?" she jokes. Matlin says it was the hardest line for her in the film.)

'I don't want to be part of that effort of faking deaf' ... Amy Forsyth, Daniel Durant, Matlin and Troy Kotsur in Coda. Photograph: Apple TV+

The film is a portrait of the lives of deaf people. One of the loveliest moments comes when Ruby's singing teacher asks her to describe how music makes her feel. The question stumps her; she can't find the words. Then she thinks for a second and signs her reply. For her, ASL is the language of feelings and expression.

What Coda doesn't do is treat deaf culture as something that needs to be "fixed" - a criticism many deaf people levelled against Children of a Lesser God when it came out. That film featured Hurt as James Leeds, a trendy hearing teacher who gets a job at a deaf boarding school and shakes things up. Matlin's character, Sarah, is a brilliant but damaged ex-pupil, now working as a cleaner in the school. Hurt has more screen time than Matlin and is a saviour figure to the deaf characters. Rather than captioning Matlin's lines, the script had Hurt speak them back to her.

Children of a Lesser God is Matlin's proudest achievement, but she says it would be done differently today, "with all the awareness of how it's OK to subtitle, and I think that probably the perspective would be Sarah's instead of James's. A lot of deaf people would totally identify with the story of Sarah more than perhaps in the original film. But it was beautiful in the fact that it was cast authentically. And I think that we need more stories like that, on television and in film."

And deaf characters must be played by deaf actors. "Enough is enough. Deaf is not a costume. It's not authentic and insults the community that you're portraying. Because we exist, we deaf actors. We do a much better job of portraying characters, telling stories that involve deaf characters, because we lived it. We know it."

Coda is in cinemas and on Apple TV+ from 13 August

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'Deaf is not a costume': Marlee Matlin on surviving abuse and casting authentically

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hen early financial backers of Marlee Matlin's new film, Coda, expressed their preference for hiring big-name actors to play the roles of two major deaf characters - her onscreen husband and son - she threatened to quit. She told them that deaf actors should play characters written as deaf.

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Apple to start scanning people’s photos and messages to check for child abuse - The Independent

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Apple to start scanning people's photos and messages to check for child abuse - The Independent

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Apple is launching new features that will allow its devices to scan through people's photos and messages to check for signs of abuse.

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MP Maria Miller wants AI 'nudifying' tool banned

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By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter

MP Maria Miller wants a parliamentary debate on whether digitally generated nude images need to be banned.

It comes as another service which allows users to undress women in photos, using Artificial intelligence (AI), spreads rapidly on social media.

The website in question had more than five million visits in June alone, according to one analyst.

Celebrities, including an Olympic athlete, are among those who users claim to have nudified.

DeepSukebe's website promises users it can "reveal the truth hidden under clothes". Launched in 2020, it is unclear who is behind it. The BBC has contacted the company for comment, but received no reply.

According to its Twitter page, it is an "AI-leveraged nudifier" whose mission is to "make all men's dreams come true".

And in a blog post, the developers say that they are working on a more powerful version of the tool.

Serious crime

Ms Miller told the BBC it was time to consider a ban of such tools.

"Parliament needs to have the opportunity to debate whether nude and sexually explicit images generated digitally without consent should be outlawed, and I believe if this were to happen the law would change."

She said that it should be an offence to distribute sexual images online without consent to reflect "the severity of the impact on people's lives".

"If software providers develop this technology, they are complicit in a very serious crime and should be required to design their products to stop this happening."

She has been campaigning about so-called revenge porn - when nude or sexually explicit images are distributed without consent - for the last six years.

"At the moment, making, taking or distributing without consent intimate sexual images online or through digital technology falls mostly outside of the law.

"It should be a sexual offence to distribute sexual images online without consent, reflecting the severity of the impact on people's lives."

She wants the issue to be included in the forthcoming Online Safety Bill.

Campaign group Cease (Centre To End All Sexual Exploitation) told the BBC it also believed nudification tools needed to be tackled in the Bill.

"The law is not adequate in this area," said chief executive Vanessa Morse.

"Technology which is designed to objectify and humiliate women should be shut down, and porn sites which profit from mass distribution of these images must be forced to proactively block their upload," she said.

She added the fact that the onus is currently on victims "often traumatised and humiliated" to have such images removed from the internet was simply not fair.

Nudifier tools, as they are known, are not new.

DeepNude was launched in 2019, but the creators quickly withdrew the service and offered refunds, following a backlash.

They acknowledged the probability people would misuse it was "very high", adding that the world was not ready for such a controversial tool.

'Not ethical'

But similar services remain on the market, many using the DeepNude source code, which was made publicly available by the original developers.

While many often produce clumsy, sometimes laughable results, the new website uses a proprietary algorithm which one analyst described as "putting it years ahead of the competition".

The BBC spoke to a developer behind one of the many nudification tools available online.

Ivan Bravo acknowledged that such creations "are not ethical, mainly in the way it is currently used and the way the original developers started advertising it as 'nude your friends'".

"However, we don't live in a perfect world and people have always been looking for ways to do this, so it was only a matter of time before such a technology came into existence."

He added that the fact the technology was only currently able to nudify women was sexist.

"Personally I would also like to have a version for nude men and even fictional characters like anime, so that all people can enjoy or experiment with this kind of adult entertainment.

"The goal is to find what kind of uses we can give to this technology within the legal and ethical [framework]."

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MP Maria Miller wants AI 'nudifying' tool banned

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By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter MP Maria Miller wants a parliamentary debate on whether digitally generated nude images need to be banned. It comes as another service which allows users to undress women in photos, using Artificial intelligence (AI), spreads rapidly on social media.

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Nineteen men in Bradford arrested in child sexual exploitation case

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Nineteen men have been arrested in an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of a woman in Bradford, dating back 20 years.

The men, aged between 36 and 55, were held on suspicion of offences dating between 2000 and 2005 against a single alleged victim.

The men were arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and indecent assault.

West Yorkshire police said the men had all been interviewed and released under caution.

They were arrested from addresses in Bradford as part of a month-long operation by the force, which has at least a dozen live investigations into alleged child sexual abuse dating back to the 2000s.

D C I Alan Weekes, of Bradford district police, said: "This investigation forms part of West Yorkshire police's ongoing commitment to the investigation of both current and non-recent sexual offences against children.

"Tackling child abuse and safeguarding children is not something that any one agency can do in isolation though which is why we work closely with local authorities and other organisations and charities to support victims, bring offenders to justice and make our communities safer.

"We would urge anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, whether recent or historic, to report it to the police. Please be assured that you will be listened to, taken seriously and supported by professionals with experience of dealing with these kind of offences."

A council review last year said that more than 120 people had been arrested on suspicion of non-recent abuse in Bradford, with around 17 investigations under way or awaiting trial.

It estimated that between 283 and 389 children were at risk of sexual exploitation in Bradford last year.

Authorities including the police and council last week issued a joint apology to victims of child sexual abuse after an independent report found that they were still missing "clear signs" of exploitation.

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Nineteen men in Bradford arrested in child sexual exploitation case

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Nineteen men have been arrested in an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of a woman in Bradford, dating back 20 years. The men, aged between 36 and 55, were held on suspicion of offences dating between 2000 and 2005 against a single alleged victim.

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Teacher found guilty of preying on teenage pupils he groomed for sex - Evening Standard

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Teacher found guilty of preying on teenage pupils he groomed for sex - Evening Standard

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A Cambridge-educated schoolteacher is facing years in prison for preying on teenage pupils who he groomed into sexual relationships.

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Jimmy Savile: 10 years on, what has changed in uncovering abuse?

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Journalistic parlour game question: what are the most significant news stories of the past decade? Few would argue with the pandemic and Brexit. Not far behind, perhaps, is the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Not many stories change our world. This one did. It transformed how we deal with allegations of sexual assault. We reassessed our attitude to celebrity. We saw more clearly than ever how morally corrupt institutions could be. It was the harbinger of the #MeToo movement.

You can expect more editorial navel-gazing in the coming months because in October it will be 10 years since the death of one of the most prolific rapists this country has known. To mark the occasion, as it were, there are five (at the last count) TV programmes in production - four documentaries and a drama.

I, like many writers, am a Savile obsessive. Mainly through guilt. I couldn't believe how my generation of journalists had failed to do our job so catastrophically, for so long. So in 2015 I tried to atone by writing the play An Audience With Jimmy Savile. Too little too late, obviously, but I read everything, including Dan Davies's brilliant In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile, a hagiographic (but equally useful) authorised biography called How's About That Then? and most revealing of all, Savile's autobiography, As It Happens. The play was staged despite a Daily Mirror petition calling for it to be banned. A review called it "the trial he never had" - which was the point.

A decade on, most people know the basic facts. How Savile assaulted an estimated 450 women and children. How he groomed a royal flush of institutions: the BBC, the NHS, the Catholic church, the police, the government - in the shape of Mrs Thatcher - and the monarchy. (The Prince of Wales called Savile his "health adviser").

But it is the details that are most instructive. If you want to know exactly how Savile got away with it, read the 2009 transcript of his interview with two police officers in which the 83-year-old boasts and threatens his way out of trouble.

"I support on a yearly basis, according to the Charity Commission ... at least 50 separate charities," he says, as part of a routine on his philanthropy. And then: "I have, how shall we say, 'friends'... I take this sort of thing very seriously ... and if this process doesn't disappear for any reason, then my people can book time in the Old Bailey ... and if we do, then you two ... will finish up at the Old Bailey as witnesses ... but nobody ever seems to want to go that far ... because of the prospect of me on the other side of the court."

Jimmy Savile presenting the BBC chart show Top Of The Pops, circa 1973, wearing a personalised tracksuit. Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images

It will be fascinating to see if this scene features in the forthcoming BBC film about Savile. For me, there was no moral justification for dramatising the story without it. A documentary can take you so far but you only fully grasp his power, ruthlessness and ability to intimidate by bringing that interview to dramatic life.

Equally fascinating will be whether the BBC film bites the hand that feeds it. Of all the Great British institutions Savile conned, the BBC was the most culpable. Our publicly funded national broadcaster didn't just create The Performer Known As Jimmy Savile, it enabled him. Tacitly encouraged him, even. This is what the then director general, Tony Hall, said after the publication in 2016 of Dame Janet Smith's inquiry report, on which work began in 2012, having read the testimony of survivors: "This [their devastation] hit me, because it made it so very clear we did that. We, the BBC, did that. Jimmy Savile committed many crimes in many places. But, uniquely, it was the BBC that made him famous. We made him a VIP."

The most important question, however, is whether things have changed since the scandal was discovered by Newsnight's Meirion Jones and the late Liz MacKean in the weeks after Savile's death. Discovered but not reported, note: BBC executives, remember, kiboshed the story in favour of a fawning tribute programme.

Our treatment of whistleblowers, if the BBC's actions are anything to go by, could still improve. Soon after the scandal, Jones and MacKean were effectively forced out of the BBC. So it promised to do better. Employees airing dirty laundry would be treated sympathetically. But when the chance came to exonerate another whistleblower, Matt Weissler, the graphic artist caught up in the Martin Bashir scandal, not much seemed to have changed. Last year, when it became clear just how badly Weissler had been treated, the BBC was woefully slow to act. Indeed, had it not been shamed into action by Earl Spencer and the Mail, Weissler would still be waiting for his apology.

Some lessons have been learned. Before Savile, many survivors were frightened to come forward, assuming they wouldn't be believed or that the process would be too traumatic. But after Savile a new policy was announced: henceforth, allegations of sexual assault would be deemed "credible and true". This caused different problems though, typified by the Carl Beech scandal, where a fantasist was too readily believed and reputations unjustifiably ruined.

But the next incarnation of the policy - that allegations would be taken seriously and listened to - was a vast improvement on the bad old pre-Savile days. It is also clear that the shattering and deeply important conclusions of last week's Lambeth council child abuse report were, in part, made possible by the scandal: Lambeth survivors talked about being emboldened by coverage of the Savile affair and the fact that they were - finally - being listened to.

I couldn't see any harm in talking to him ... because he was Jimmy Savile. And of course, I was star struck

Dawn, Savile survivor

But deep structural problems remain. In the year to March 2020, nearly 60,000 cases of rape were recorded in England and Wales. But there were just 2,102 prosecutions: a drop of 30% on the previous year. And the rich, famous and powerful are still getting away with it. Exhibit A: Bill Cosby, sent to prison for sexual assault, but whose conviction was recently overturned on a technicality. He is now a free man.

The journalism is better though. Before Savile, one suspects recent allegations about powerful showbiz types would never have been reported. Most important of all, survivors now feel able to talk freely. One of the forthcoming programmes is a remarkable full-length feature documentary, which I advised on, called Jimmy Savile: The People Who Knew. It features heartbreaking testimony from a gentle, broken woman called Dawn, giving her first interview.

She was assaulted by Savile on a train as a teenager but was too scared to tell anyone. She emigrated to escape the memories and had two failed marriages. This is what she says: "I got on the train at Grays station ... on one of those carriage compartments, like the Harry Potter train. And there was a man in the carriage and he started talking to me, and he looked at me and he said, do you know who I am? And I looked, it was Jimmy Savile.

Jimmy Savile: The People Who Knew features testimony from Dawn, who was assaulted by Savile on a train, aged 17. Photograph: Shearwater Media/Discovery+

"He wanted to know how old I was and where I lived and stuff like that. I couldn't see any harm in talking to him ... because he was Jimmy Savile, you know? And of course, I was starstruck, you know, like there was Top of the Pops, and he was on Radio 1, and there was Jim'll Fix It, all those things I'd grown up with.

"Jimmy Savile reached over and like, hand on the leg, then it moved to hand on the breast. And then I realised that what I thought was his hand in his lap, wasn't his hand in his lap...

"He'd obviously been playing with himself, on the train ... I was numb ... confused, I didn't fully understand what was happening. I was 17 years old, I'd never had ... anything like that before.

"It felt ... like he took a part of that virginity, that pureness ... he robbed me of that, And, I think ... that's why I've had two failed marriages because it never felt right. I never told my parents. I would have got the third degree.

"I just wasn't happy. I saw an advertisement which said 'Nannies wanted in Canada', and applied. Six weeks later I was in Calgary. It was hard to leave. I was running away. I freely admit that. I ran away."

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Jimmy Savile: 10 years on, what has changed in uncovering abuse?

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Journalistic parlour game question: what are the most significant news stories of the past decade? Few would argue with the pandemic and Brexit. Not far behind, perhaps, is the Jimmy Savile scandal. Not many stories change our world. This one did. It transformed how we deal with allegations of sexual assault.

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Pop star Kris Wu detained on suspicion of rape

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Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has been detained by Beijing police on suspicion of rape.

The 30-year-old former member of the Korean boyband EXO had previously been accused by a teenager of having sex with her while she was drunk. Wu denied the accusation.

The teenager said seven other women contacted her to say Wu seduced them with promises of jobs and other opportunities. She said some were under 18 but gave no indication whether or not they were younger than China's age of consent of 14.

A statement from police said that Wu had been "criminally detained" on suspicion of rape "in response to relevant information reported on the internet" including that he "repeatedly lured young women to have sexual relations". It gave no other details.

The news was trending as the most searched topic on social media site Weibo on Saturday night, and some users online started commenting on Wu's account, telling him to "Get out of China!"

Wu is a Canadian citizen, according to the police statement. He shot to fame as a member of the K-pop boyband EXO, before leaving in 2014 to launch a successful solo career as a singer, actor, model and variety show judge.

The official paper of the Chinese Communist party, the People's Daily, weighed in on the case, saying in a short opinion post online: "Having a foreign nationality is not a protective talisman, and no matter how big the name is, there is no immunity."

The teenager publicised her accusations on social media and later in an interview with internet portal NetEase. A day after that interview appeared, at least 10 brands including Porsche and Louis Vuitton broke off endorsement and other deals with Wu.

According to the interview, she thought she was meeting Wu for a career opportunity. Instead, his staff forced her to drink. She said that, as someone who did not go to bars, her alcohol tolerance was low and she was drunk after two drinks. The next morning, she woke up in Wu's bed, where he was kind to her and promised to take care of her, she said.

The teenager said that was the beginning of what she had thought was their relationship. In March, however, he stopped returning her messages.

At first, she said she felt sorry for herself. But after she learned that there were other women who had been treated similarly, she said she felt there were others who were worse off.

"I don't believe this is just my own personal matter. You can even say that this is a problem with the atmosphere in China's entertainment circle," she said in the NetEase interview.

Wu said that he had met the young woman on 5 December 2020, but "I didn't force her to drink," and "there was not this sort of details she describes".

"I didn't expect my silence to encourage these rumours, and I couldn't stand it!" Wu previously wrote. "There were a lot of people there that day who can bear witness."

The teenager and Wu both said they had asked authorities to investigate.

Saturday's statement did not mention that case and gave no information about the status of that investigation.

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Pop star Kris Wu detained on suspicion of rape

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Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has been detained by Beijing police on suspicion of rape. The 30-year-old former member of the Korean boyband EXO had previously been accused by a teenager of having sex with her while she was drunk. Wu denied the accusation.

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Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture allegations

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Employees of Activision Blizzard, the video game company that produces World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, staged a walkout Wednesday morning to call for better working conditions as the company faces allegations of a "frat boy" culture and severe harassment and discrimination against female workers.

The California department of fair employment and housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against the company last week after a two-year investigation found widespread sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination and that the video game maker "fostered a sexist culture" in which female employees earn less than males doing similar work.

Just 20% of Activision Blizzard's 9,500 employees are women, and leadership at the company, one of the largest video game makers in the world, is largely white and male.

Hundreds of workers gathered outside the company's headquarters in Irvine, California, Wednesday morning while others, unable to attend in person, took part in a virtual protest.

A few hundred employees have gathered at the #ActiBlizzWalkout, exceeding the 100 or so organizers expected. Employees are being asked to surround the Blizzard campus. The organizers have also set up a rest area for refreshments, poster making and dog watching. pic.twitter.com/Si7Fof3sys
- Sam Blake (@hisamblake) July 28, 2021

The protest also drew solidarity efforts from non-employees, including video game streamers and eSports teams, who announced they would not post on social media for the duration of the walkout to show their support.

Organizers of the walkout are demanding the company "improve conditions for employees at the company, especially women, and in particular women of color and transgender women, non-binary people and other marginalized groups".

Activision Blizzard employees are also calling for an end to mandatory arbitration in employee contracts, which prevent workers from taking conflicts with their employer to court, policies to improve representation of women and marginalized groups, the publication of salary data, and an audit of the company by a diversity, equity and inclusion taskforce.

In response to the allegations, the company initially said the lawsuit contained "distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard's past", Polygon reported. A letter sent to staff from a company vice-president last week described the lawsuit as " truly meritless and irresponsible". Since then more than 3,100 current and former employees signed an open letter expressing their support for the DFEH lawsuit, according to NBC News.

"We no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests," workers wrote. "To claim this is a 'truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit,' while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable."

On Tuesday, the company's CEO, Bobby Kotick, apologized for the company's "tone deaf" response to the lawsuit and promised swift action.

"I want to recognize and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage. Every voice matters - and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future," Kotick wrote to workers in a letter posted to the company's website.

The company has asked a law firm to review its policies and procedures to "promote a respectful and inclusive workplace" and Kotick said it would immediately bring on additional staff to investigate claims from employees, hold listening sessions, evaluate managers and company leaders, address hiring practices and make changes to inappropriate in-game content.

A spokesperson said the company supported the workers' right to walk out, and is committed to change.

"We are fully committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and rewarding environment for all of our employees around the world. We support their right to express their opinions and concerns in a safe and respectful manner, without fear of retaliation," the spokesperson said. "We know there are a variety of topics that need to be considered. The leadership team at Activision Blizzard is also committed to long-lasting change, listening, and continuing the important work to create a safe and inclusive workplace that we can all be proud of."

On Wednesday nearly 500 current and former employees of Ubisoft, the publisher of the Assassin's Creed game, signed a letter in support of the Activision Blizzard walkout and condemned how their own employer dealt with sexual misconduct, Axios reported.

"It should no longer be a surprise to anyone: employees, executives, journalists, or fans that these heinous acts are going on. It is time to stop being shocked. We must demand real steps be taken to prevent them."

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Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and 'frat boy' culture allegations

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Employees of Activision Blizzard, the video game company that produces World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, staged a walkout Wednesday morning to call for better working conditions as the company faces allegations of a "frat boy" culture and severe harassment and discrimination against female workers.

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The female key workers facing sexual harassment on the Covid frontline - The Independent

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The female key workers facing sexual harassment on the Covid frontline - The Independent

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'Three other female staff members had been also been assaulted by the same man,' says supermarket worker

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Stealthing: 'I didn't realise it's rape until it happened to me' - BBC News

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Stealthing: 'I didn't realise it's rape until it happened to me' - BBC News

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Two women share their experiences of non-consensual condom removal during sex.

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India’s Rape Scandal: Channel 4’s shocking documentary is essential viewing - Stylist

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India's Rape Scandal: Channel 4's shocking documentary is essential viewing - Stylist

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This new Channel 4 documentary is so important.

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More women come forward with allegations against shamed actor Noel Clarke - The Sun

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More women come forward with allegations against shamed actor Noel Clarke - The Sun

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MORE women have come forward with allegations against shamed actor Noel Clarke, police said.

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Female military staff denied justice by inadequate system - MPs

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Women in the armed forces who are victims of bullying, harassment, discrimination and serious sexual assault are being "denied justice" by a "woefully inadequate" military complaints process, MPs have said.

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Female military staff denied justice by inadequate system - MPs

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Veterans describe a "boys' club" where sex assaults were hushed up and complaining could be career-ending.

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Lone women in Covid quarantine hotels to get female guards

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The Department of Health and Social Care made the change after a BBC report in which women said one male guard had mimed having sex in a lift, and another had asked for a hug.

If female guards are unavailable, women should be escorted by two male guards.

Sixteen women have reported harassment to the BBC and some say complaints have been ignored or disbelieved.

Sarah, a 23-year-old medical student from Manchester who says she was taken by a guard on a terrifying walk along deserted hotel corridors when she was quarantining in the Radisson Red Heathrow in April, welcomes the move to provide female guards for lone female travellers.

Personally I would find two male guards more intimidating than just one lone guard... I don't think it ensures the safety of women, rather it increases possible risk

But she is critical of the suggestion to provide two male guards when female guards are not available - "with each guard chaperoning the other to ensure appropriate behaviour," as the DHSC puts it.

In her case, the guard she was expecting to take her on an exercise break via the nearest lift grabbed her by the arm, asked if she had a boyfriend, and then showed her to a group of other guards, who spoke together in a foreign language and laughed at her, she says.

"Personally I would find two male guards more intimidating than just one lone guard," she says. "A group of male guards were talking about me when they clearly saw one male guard was being inappropriate with me. I don't think it ensures the safety of women, rather it increases possible risk."

All of the women we have spoken to say they saw very few female guards in quarantine hotels. G4S told the BBC: "The proportion of women to men in security officer roles at quarantine hotels is typical of the UK security industry and we are working to attract more women to the role."

In other changes, the DHSC says all guards will now be given additional training on how to behave with vulnerable guests "with more focused attention on the needs of lone female guests". It did not respond to a question about what the training consisted of or how long it lasted.

Hotel quarantine

Travellers arriving from countries on the UK's red list (countries with high rates of Covid infection) have to quarantine for 10 full days in designated hotels

The cost is £1,750 for a single adult, and includes Covid tests on days two and eight

Guests must stay in their room at all times except when escorted outside by guards for exercise - food is delivered to the room and guests do their own cleaning

Security companies are hired by the government to provide guards - the maximum value of G4S's contract from February to October was £66.5m, the maximum value of Mitie's was £19.6m

The DHSC also says there is now a dedicated complaints team for quarantine hotels, with a clear process in place for reporting problems.

At the time of our first story on sexual harassment allegations in quarantine hotels, published on 26 June, the hotels said complaints about guards were a matter for the DHSC, which pays security companies to enforce quarantine rules in the hotels. The DHSC, however, said it expected hotels to investigate guests' complaints.

Now hotels report concerns to the DHSC Managed Quarantine Service Complaints Team, which then investigates with the co-operation of the security companies.

"We are doing our upmost to ensure every person in managed quarantine gets the support they need and we're urgently working to investigate complaints of this nature," a DHSC spokesperson said.

In June, we spoke to four women who say they were sexually harassed in quarantine hotels after flying back from countries on the UK's Covid red list.

We have since been in contact with 12 more, including one who says she was harassed by one of the many paramedics hired by the government to work in the hotels. The cases include:

a woman who received a stream of Facebook messages from a guard who called her "dear" and "sweetheart", and knocked on her door after writing, "This evening I'll come"

a woman who says a guard knocked repeatedly on her door - she then found a note addressed to her from "the tall guard" saying she was "fit" and asking her to message him

a 20-year-old teaching assistant who says she was cat-called and wolf-whistled by G4S guards when she simply walked past a quarantine hotel

All of these 12 women say they are dissatisfied with the way their complaints were handled, including two who have received a response from the new DHSC complaints team. A number, including Sarah, said they had received no written response at all.

Brittany Dodds, 26, received 13 Facebook messages from a guard on the second day of her quarantine in the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel at Heathrow in May. She had ignored his friend request and sent no replies.

A South African lawyer, Brittany says she didn't confront him or complain, because she didn't want to "possibly provoke him or cause a situation whereby he would find a reason to actually do something".

On her fourth full day in quarantine, the guard sent a message, "This evening I'll come." She says she barricaded herself in with her bags as he knocked repeatedly on her door.

The next day, when Brittany asked a different guard to escort her back to her room, the first guard seemed offended, she says, and knocked on her door, complaining loudly.

"At this point I was shaking and had no words because I knew that he was now following me," Brittany says. She didn't leave her room again until the 10 nights of her quarantine were over.

It was only once she had left that Brittany felt safe enough to complain and had a video call with Darren Carter, head of safety, security and sustainability for Edwardian Hotels, who asked her why she hadn't reported the guard to the hotel management or to the police, she says.

"Carter insinuated that it was because I hadn't taken any steps to protect myself that the security guard continued to do what he did, as he didn't know it was wrong.

"I told them that this was victim-blaming."

Radisson Hotels said it could not comment on individual guests, but added it was co-operating with a DHSC investigation. "The safety and security of our guests and staff is of the utmost importance for Radisson Hotel Group so we are taking these allegations very seriously," the company said.

Brittany says she never got a reply from G4S, even though she emailed the head of security for a group of Heathrow hotels.

A spokesperson for G4S said: "We treat all complaints extremely seriously, report these promptly, support the Department of Health and Social Care to conduct rigorous investigations in all cases and take appropriate action if the conduct of any security officer falls below the required standard."

Finally, on 19 July, Brittany received an email from the DHSC complaints team, saying that the guard had been dismissed, but adding that his messages contained "nothing that relates to a sexual nature". The official then repeated that Brittany could have reported the guard to the hotel or blocked the conversation "if you was finding it stressful".

Brittany says that reading the email made her "feel sick" and that she, the victim, was once again being blamed.

Caroline, from Nottingham, says she also had a guard who kept knocking on her door when she started quarantining on 6 June at the Crowne Plaza NEC, on her return from a trip to South Africa.

"He was saying, 'If there's anything you want, anything, you need to come to me. Just ask, I can help you get this stuff'," she says.

On the second day, Caroline mentioned that she had not received her breakfast, so he came back with a fruit salad. He was very friendly and chatty, she says, when he escorted her to and from exercise outside.

"And then I was in my room trying to do my Covid tests and he kept knocking on the door again. To start with it was all right and I was like 'Yes I'm just trying to do my Covid test', and then again a knock and he'd left a note outside the door."

The note asked her to WhatsApp him. It had kisses on it, and ended: "I think you're fit - love a lady in glasses."

Caroline complained, and the head of security at the hotel - from the company, Mitie - told her that this was completely out of order. Caroline didn't see the guard again and assumed that he had been removed from the hotel.

But when the BBC asked Mitie to comment, the company said it had found that the handwriting and telephone number on the note didn't match those of the guard Caroline had described - or any of the other guards on shift that day.

Asked how the company thought the note had appeared, the company said it expected high standards from security officers, all of whom were fully trained "including on the behaviours required of them" in quarantine hotels. We asked whether the company accepted that a guard may have more than one phone, but Mitie didn't respond.

Guards are stationed in quarantine hotels to ensure that guests do not leave their rooms - and there are no non-quarantining guests - so other people in the hotel would have had little opportunity to leave the note.

"Do they think I am making it up? That I wrote the note myself?" Caroline says. "It's ridiculous."

A spokesman for the Crowne Plaza NEC said the company was unable to comment because security companies were contracted by the DHSC.

Caroline has heard nothing from the DHSC managed quarantine service complaints team.

A 20-year-old teaching assistant, Alice says she was walking past the Pentahotel in Reading on 3 June when G4S guards milling around outside it started wolf-whistling and cat-calling.

She wrote to the hotel to complain, but received no reply for three weeks. Then on 26 June - the day we published our first story - she wrote again, and immediately received two replies. One was from the hotel manager, who said he was escalating the complaint and sending CCTV footage to the DHSC's complaints team.

The reply from the DHSC said the complaint was being rejected because CCTV footage showed that Alice had entered hotel premises and that guards had had to escort her out. She wrote back saying that this was incorrect - she had not passed through the metal barriers used to seal the hotel off from the street while it was operating as a quarantine hotel. The DHSC replied again saying the CCTV footage had been reviewed, and the department was sticking to its original opinion.

"I'm so angry - they have called me a liar, they ignored me for ages. I think it's disgusting," she says.

Eventually the DHSC sent Alice the CCTV video, and it showed someone else entirely. She pointed this out to them and has not heard back since.

Penta Hotels said it was not responsible for the behaviour of guards, and the DHSC said it could not comment on individual cases.

Harriet Wistrich of the Centre for Women's Justice said hotel quarantine was an "incredibly oppressive situation" for many women, particularly those travelling alone.

"They are effectively imprisoned and there aren't enough female guards to stop these incidents happening. Just putting on an extra male guard isn't good enough - and it's also quite oppressive."

She said the government couldn't "privatise out" its responsibility for the safety of these women and repeated a call she made last month for clear guidance to be given to everyone in hotel quarantine about who to contact for help if they feel unsafe.

West Midlands Victims' Commissioner Nicky Brennan backed the idea of giving female guards responsibility for lone women, but added: "I'm gobsmacked that the government thinks that if a female guard is unavailable then two male guards are a good alternative. This couldn't be further from the truth and the move is both short-sighted and naive. I fear it will only exacerbate the problem."

The DHSC spokesperson said, "Sexual harassment and abuse are abhorrent - and all allegations of this are taken extremely seriously... We will not hesitate to take immediate action to suspend staff where appropriate and report to the police if necessary."

More hotel quarantine stories

A guard knocked on Pashmin Kinalekar's door past 10pm and asked if she wanted to get some fresh air with him - when she said No he asked if he could "watch a movie and chill" with her in her room

Rosaria Lily Brenno says she and her sister were asked by guards about their sexual preferences - one speculated that they liked big penises, another knocked on their door after midnight

Maria (not her real name) says she was treated for a panic attack by one hotel-based paramedic and hours later received an unexpected visit from another - he tried putting his stethoscope inside her shirt, hugged her to "calm her down", asked to check her stomach, and returned twice the following day

Safia (not her real name) was pestered by a guard, who called her "beautiful" and "baby" on a four-hour bus journey from Heathrow to her hotel, before getting "too close" at 11pm in an alley leading to the hotel's service entrance, and asking which man had "got such a perfect woman"

G4S said it had a "zero-tolerance approach" to staff who failed to treat people with respect. A spokesperson said: "To provide additional assurance we have enhanced training, supervision and operational and safeguarding procedures. We have also established an oversight body comprising of women in senior executive roles."

One woman who is currently quarantining at a Heathrow hotel said she felt safe and the staff were friendly.

But she said that she had been given no information on how to make a complaint and was escorted for exercise either by a single female guard, or by a single male guard, never by two.

Another woman said she was asking specifically for a female guard when requesting an exercise break, and so far it seemed to be working.

Reporting sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is any kind of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature that makes you feel humiliated or intimidated, or that creates a hostile environment

Try to keep a record of your experiences of harassment including dates/times and details of what happened, in case you decide to report it

If you're in danger, call the police on 999

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Lone women in Covid quarantine hotels to get female guards

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The Department of Health and Social Care made the change after a BBC report in which women said one male guard had mimed having sex in a lift, and another had asked for a hug. If female guards are unavailable, women should be escorted by two male guards.

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Tory MPs suspended for trying to influence judge in Elphicke case

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Several Conservative MPs will be temporarily suspended from the Commons and told to apologise after being found to have tried to influence a judge presiding over the trial of a former colleague for sexual assault.

The one-day ban from parliament was handed down by the standards committee to backbenchers Sir Roger Gale, Theresa Villiers and Natalie Elphicke - the then partner of Charlie Elphicke, who was given two years in prison after being found guilty of three counts of sexual assault.

Two other Tory MPs - Adam Holloway and Bob Stewart - were ordered to make a statement apologising for their behaviour in the chamber, with all five found to have threatened to undermine public trust in the independence of the judicial system.

The politicians sent a letter to senior judges in November 2020 before a hearing on the release of pre-sentencing character references for Charlie Elphicke.

They used parliamentary-headed and taxpayer-funded Commons stationery to write to Dame Kathryn Thirlwall, the senior presiding judge for England and Wales, and Dame Victoria Sharp, the president of the Queen's Bench Division, also copying in Mrs Justice Whipple, who had heard the trial of Elphicke and was due to decide on the application to release the character references.

The MPs wrote to "express concern" about the hearing, arguing a decision to disclose the references would be a "radical change to judicial practice" that "could have the chilling effect and harm the criminal justice system".

After they received a response the following day from the office of the lord chief justice of England and Wales saying the intervention was "improper" and disregarded the "separation of powers" between politicians and the judiciary, the five MPs wrote back on 22 November insisting they had not meant to "challenge your authority".

In a report published on Wednesday, the standards committee said the letters had been disregarded but the MPs had still sought to influence the outcome of the hearing and "risked giving the impression that elected politicians can bring influence to bear on the judiciary, out of public view and in a way not open to others".

It added: "Such egregious behaviour is corrosive to the rule of law and, if allowed to continue unchecked, could undermine public trust in the independence of judges."

The greater sanction of suspension was only imposed on some MPs because they either had "substantial legal experience" or were still refusing to acknowledge they had done anything wrong, with the committee saying they "should have known better".

It concluded the politicians had breached the MPs' code of conduct, which says they should not damage the reputation and integrity of the Commons or those elected to it.

Villiers said she was "very sorry" and admitted the correspondence "was not appropriately drafted and it was wrong of us to send it". Natalie Elphicke apologised and said she had been wrong to question whether a different judge should have heard the application to release the character references.

Gale, Holloway and Stewart gave a joint response, denying having tried to "influence the court of a live case" and saying they had only been trying to block the references being released to the press, given they contained "confidential and private information".

They argued they had in fact "enhanced the reputation of the house for taking proportionate, timely and appropriate action under difficult, sensitive and pressing circumstances" and added they saw "no case" for being forced to apologise.

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Tory MPs suspended for trying to influence judge in Elphicke case

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Several Conservative MPs will be temporarily suspended from the Commons and told to apologise after being found to have tried to influence a judge presiding over the trial of a former colleague for sexual assault.

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Public street harassment set to be made illegal in England and Wales

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Public street harassment is likely to be criminalised under plans being drawn up by the government as part of its long-awaited strategy to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) for England and Wales.

The use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual harassment and abuse in higher education settings could be also be banned after a review.

It had been briefed that home secretary Priti Patel would not look to introduce a new street harassment law - called for by campaigners and the government's own adviser.

But before the publication of its VAWG strategy on Wednesday, the government said it was "looking carefully at where there may be gaps in existing law".

Patel said she was "determined to give the police the powers they need to crack down on perpetrators and carry out their duties to protect the public whilst providing victims with the care and support they deserve".

The VAWG strategy will also see the launch of a new "StreetSafe" app allowing women and girls to record where they feel unsafe, as well as a public health campaign which will focus on perpetrator behaviour.

A £5m "safety of women at night" fund will concentrate on "innovative" projects, such as the widely criticised pilot to put undercover policemen in bars and nightclubs to keep women safe.

More than 180,000 people responded to a consultation on the new violence against women strategy, the majority of them following the murder of Sarah Everard, who was killed while walking home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London in March.

A new national police chief with overall responsibility for tackling violence against women and girls will also be introduced, while the Ministry of Justice will commission a 24/7 rape and sexual assault helpline.

The strategy also promises a review into offender management to enable police to target repeat offenders, while the government also confirmed it would make virginity testing - the examination of the hymen - illegal.

Jess Phillips,the shadow minister for domestic violence, said there was much to welcome in the strategy, but added: "It has absolutely nothing in it about the sexual exploitation of adult women or any real sense about how it is going to ensure crimes like indecent exposure will be taken more seriously. Saying it on a document doesn't make it so."

Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said the review into NDAs in higher education should be extended across all work places. "While the language is bold the funding detailed so far will not ensure the government can produce its promise: a radical change in the whole system," she said.

Nimco Ali, independent adviser to the strategy said ending violence against women and girls would take "whole system" change. "The strategy aims to do just that, taking action through legislation and education, and I hope will be the foundation on which we can build a safer world for women and girls."

The headline to this article was amended on 21 July 2021 to clarify that public street harassment "could be" made illegal; an earlier version implied that a change to the law was already decided.

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Public street harassment could be made illegal in England and Wales

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Public street harassment is likely to be criminalised under plans being drawn up by the government as part of its long-awaited strategy to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) for England and Wales. The use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual harassment and abuse in higher education settings could be also be banned after a review.

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Afghan woman 'unbroken' after being shot by her husband

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Afghanistan remains one of the worst places for women. Last year official numbers confirmed 3,500 cases of violence against women, and it's feared the numbers will grow under as the security situation in the country deteriorates.

Shakila Zareen, 25, is one of the rare survivors. She was forced into child marriage, was raped and has undergone 22 operations after she was shot in the face by her husband. Now she is using her voice to advocate for other women as she recovers.
Video by Mahjooba Nowrouzi, Kawoon Khamoosh and Vilma Ek.

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'They shot me, but they didn't know I'm unbreakable'

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Afghanistan remains one of the worst places for women. Last year official numbers confirmed 3,500 cases of violence against women, and it's feared the numbers will grow under as the security situation in the country deteriorates. Shakila Zareen, 25, is one of the rare survivors.

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Epidemic of violence against women under way in England and Wales – report

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Women and girls are being subjected to an epidemic of violence that requires a "radical and bold" shift in how authorities in England and Wales tackle crimes that disproportionately affect female victims, a police watchdog has warned.

In an interim report, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) calls for councils, schools, health and social care bodies and all areas of the criminal justice system to work together to address the problem, as police "cannot solve this alone".

In March, the inspectorate was asked to inspect the effectiveness of police engagement with women and girls.

A number of recent cases involving violence against women and girls have raised the profile of such offending, including the death of 33-year-old Sarah Everard; that of Julia James, a police community support officer in Kent, allegedly killed while out walking her dog; and the murders of the sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in a park in north-west London in June 2020.

Among the inspectorate's recommendations was a call for an "immediate and unequivocal commitment" that the response to violence against women and girls is an "absolute priority" for government, policing, the criminal justice system and public sector partnerships - backed up by funding.

Within this, HMICFRS recommends that the Home Office and other government departments should consider proposing a statutory duty on partner agencies to collectively take action to prevent harm caused by violence against women and girls.

The police should make the pursuit of adult perpetrators of violence against women and girls, and the disruption of such offences, a national priority, say inspectors, and structures and funding should be put in place to make sure victims receive tailored and consistent support.

Her Majesty's inspector of constabulary, Zoë Billingham, said: "We are living during a national epidemic of violence against women and girls. The prevalence and range of offending and harm is stark and shocking. We are clear that the police have made great progress over the last decade against a backdrop of greater demand, and we want forces to maintain this momentum and build on these improvements. But there is still evidence of inconsistent support for victims and low prosecution rates.

"Offending against women and girls is deep-rooted and pervasive in our society. Urgent action is needed to uproot and address this and police cannot solve this alone. There must be a seamless approach to preventing and tackling violence against women and girls across the whole system, including education, local authorities, health, social care and those from across the criminal justice system - with all agencies working together."

Among shocking statistics highlighted in the report are the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimate of 1.6 million women experiencing domestic abuse in the 12 months to March 2020, as well as the 153,136 rape and other sexual offences recorded by police, in which the victim was female in 84% of cases.

The inspectorate's final report is expected to be published in September, with further details of the government's strategy on violence against women and girls anticipated later this year.

Sarah Jones, the shadow minister for policing and the fire service, said: "HMICFRS's report is clear. There is a crime 'epidemic' against women and girls, and 'fundamental system-wide change is needed' to address it. This is damming and sadly predictable, after devastating Conservative cuts to policing.

"Tackling violence against women and girls must be a top priority in both legislation and in national and local government strategies."

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Epidemic of violence against women under way in England and Wales - report

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Women and girls are being subjected to an epidemic of violence that requires a "radical and bold" shift in how authorities in England and Wales tackle crimes that disproportionately affect female victims, a police watchdog has warned.

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Rape victims still face police phone trawl, says commissioner

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Proposals for England and Wales mean people who claim to have been raped will still face pressure to hand over their phones to police and prosecutors, says the victims' commissioner.

The government's apology to rape victims has been "undermined" by the move, Dame Vera Baird told the BBC.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill sets limits to police access to victims' phone data.

But these safeguards should be stronger, argues Dame Vera.

The Home Office says there will be a code of practice alongside the new law to protect the privacy of victims and witnesses.

Last month, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland apologised to rape victims for low conviction rates in England and Wales and promised "to do a lot better".

But Dame Vera warns that while the proposed legislation requires police to get the agreement of potential rape victims to hand over their phones or other personal data such as medical records, it does not define exactly what "agreement" means.

Nor does it set limits on what information can be downloaded from phones, nor how it might be used.

"It is definitely a backward step," says Dame Vera, "and it definitely clashes with the apology from ministers and with the intention in the rape review to focus on the defendant and less on the complainant."

Victims of sexual crimes are often put under pressure by police and prosecutors to hand over their phones because of the possibility they might have sent private messages which undermine their evidence.

This is voluntary, but victims are often told the case will be closed if they do not comply, and some withdraw because they are uncomfortable handing over private data.

Sarah's story

Sarah Jenkin has taken the rare step of waiving her legal right to anonymity because of her anger at the way she was treated after alleging she had been raped.

She had been drinking heavily and was unable to give a detailed account of what had happened. The man whom she accused denied rape.

Sarah said the police had not initially wanted to access her phone but later said it was necessary.

"I got the impression that it had been requested that the police get that information. Requested by, I assume, the CPS...

"I feel very angry about what has happened, the trauma that I've suffered directly from the treatment of particular aspects of the criminal justice system is unbelievable."

Sarah said the CPS claimed there were inconsistencies in her messages to friends.

"They seemed, certainly in my case, to be using this information as a way to try to discredit me, discredit my account, imply that I'm not a credible witness."

However, she said, her personal messages would have also made it clear she was gay, and had no history with men, suggesting it was unlikely she would have consented to sex.

"This was something that I raised with the CPS only to be told that my sexuality wasn't relevant, which was very hurtful," she told the BBC.

The case was dropped by the CPS after prosecutors said they would offer no evidence. The man she accused was acquitted.

Even a tighter law, to protect victims of crime, would only go so far in restoring her trust in the justice system, she said.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said the case was stopped after a "careful review" because it did not meet the legal test required for a prosecution.

"Every rape case that comes to the CPS is dealt with by a specialist prosecutor in a dedicated rape and sexual offences unit.

"Each one is decided on its own merits and whenever the legal test is met, we will not hesitate to prosecute."

'Digital strip-search'

Police forces have already ditched a process for obtaining large amounts of phone data, described by campaigners as a "digital strip-search".

But recent research for the government's review of rape cases, suggested it was often prosecutors, rather than police officers, who pushed for victims' data, to enable "robust" charging decisions.

In a statement, the Home Office said the new law would "outline the general duties" of police and prosecutors but there would also be a code of practice on how the powers should be used, to protect the privacy of victims and witnesses.

Work is underway to ensure the criminal justice system only takes information from victims "where it is necessary for the investigation and not as a matter of course," said an official.

Dame Vera says that, behind the scenes, senior police officers support her attempts to protect victims.

The Crown Prosecution Service has, in the past, been accused of investigating the person reporting a rape or sexual assault, rather than the suspect, and of trying to prevent cases going to court if they are less likely to result in a conviction.

This was one of the reasons why the government, through Mr Buckland, apologised to rape victims.

The government's rape review concluded: "These are trends of which we are deeply ashamed."

"Victims of rape are being failed."

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Rape victims still face police phone trawl, says commissioner

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Proposals for England and Wales mean people who claim to have been raped will still face pressure to hand over their phones to police and prosecutors, says the victims' commissioner. The government's apology to rape victims has been "undermined" by the move, Dame Vera Baird told the BBC.

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Wembley park stabbings: Danyal Hussein guilty of murdering sisters

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A man who stabbed two sisters at random in a supposed demonic pact - a "sacrifice" he seemingly believed would enable him to win the lottery - has been found guilty of their murder.

Danyal Hussein, 19, killed Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman at Fryent Country Park in Wembley on 6 June 2020.

He repeatedly stabbed them after a birthday party for Ms Henry.

Their bodies were found there by Ms Smallman's boyfriend the day after they had been reported missing to police.

The Old Bailey heard how the sisters had been with a small group of friends to celebrate Ms Henry's 46th birthday.

When the others left they decided to stay as they were enjoying themselves. They lit fairy lights, listened to music and danced, the trial heard.

After they failed to make it home, loved ones went back to the park to search for them and two days later found the women's sunglasses and a knife.

Adam Stone, 27-year-old Ms Smallman's partner, then discovered the two bodies intertwined in the undergrowth while he was on the phone to the police.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the sisters' mother Mina Smallman said: "No-one expects their children to die before them but to have two of your three children murdered overnight is just incomprehensible.

"If any good comes out of this, at least another four women will not meet a similar end in a so-called pact with a so-called demon."

It can be reported for the first time that Hussein had previously been referred by his school to the government's counter-extremism programme, Prevent.

In October 2017, aged 15, he was referred to the de-radicalisation scheme because of content he had accessed on school computers, including far-right material.

Hussein had a long-standing interest in mythology, Satanism, and the occult.

He was put on the "Channel programme" - for the most concerning Prevent cases - which discharged him in 2018, although he was seen again six and 12 months later.

Channel involves a multi-agency panel responsible for assessing the risk posed by a referred person. The programme is then charged with developing a support plan for the individual concerned.

During the trial, the jury heard Ms Henry had been stabbed eight times and Ms Smallman 28 times.

Hussein also cut himself during the attack and it was DNA evidence found at the crime scene that connected him to the murders.

Nearly a month after the deaths, a DNA familial link was made by police to Hussein's father, who had a past caution, and officers raided the defendant's home.

In his bedroom, they found three lottery tickets folded inside a letter signed in blood. In it, Hussein promised to sacrifice six women every six months in exchange for winning the Mega Millions Super Jackpot.

Over the 10 days following the killings, he spent more than £160 on lottery tickets and bets, all without success.

In another note found in his room, Hussein offered blood to "demon Queen Byleth" in exchange for making a girl at his school fall in love with him.

The jury heard blood found in the park was a billion times more likely to have come from the teenage suspect than anyone else, while CCTV footage showed him buying a set of knives from Asda the day before the killings.

Following his arrest he told police he had Asperger's syndrome and trouble with his memory, but then refused to answer any questions.

Hussein did not give evidence during the trial but denied he was the person who carried out the killings.

As well as being convicted of two counts of murder, he was found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon.

The 19-year-old is due to be sentenced on 22 September.

Mrs Justice Whipple ordered psychiatric reports to be carried out ahead of sentencing. She told the defendant he faced a long prison term.

Det Ch Insp Simon Harding, the senior investigating officer, described the case as "one of the most shocking and chilling" he had dealt with.

He said the two victims "had lots of friends and lived life to the full", while footage taken by them on the night they died showed "their bond and shared pleasure in being in each other's company".

The senior officer also described Hussein as an "arrogant" and "evil" killer who had acted as a "belligerent child" in court.

"He has behaved like a teenage boy but he has committed some of the most savage crimes we have seen for many years," he said.

Two Met Police officers, PC Deniz Jaffer, 47, and PC Jamie Lewis, 32, have been charged with misconduct in public office for taking "non-official and inappropriate photographs" of the murder scene.

The pair, who are both suspended from duty, are due to appear at the Old Bailey on 13 July to enter a plea formally.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is carrying out a separate inquiry into how the Met handled calls from worried relatives and friends of Ms Smallman and Ms Henry before their bodies were discovered.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

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Wembley park stabbings: Danyal Hussein guilty of murdering sisters

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A man who stabbed two sisters at random in a supposed demonic pact - a "sacrifice" he seemingly believed would enable him to win the lottery - has been found guilty of their murder. Danyal Hussein, 19, killed Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman at Fryent Country Park in Wembley on 6 June 2020.

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Ofsted Review 2021 - The inspection handbook update 28 June 2021

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Ofsted Review 2021 - The inspection handbook update 28 June 2021

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New section - Comes into effect for inspections from September 2021

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This guidance applies from 1 September 2021.

Introduction

1. This handbook describes the main activities that inspectors carry out when they inspect further education and skills providers in England under part 8 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. It sets out the evaluation criteria that inspectors use to make their judgements and on which they report.

2. The handbook has 2 parts:

3. This handbook is a guide for inspectors on how to carry out inspections of further education and skills providers. It is also available to providers and other organisations to inform them about inspection processes and procedures. It balances the need for consistent inspections with the need to respond to each provider's individual circumstances. This handbook applies to inspections from 1 September 2019 under the education inspection framework (EIF). Inspectors will apply their professional judgement when they use this handbook.

Types of providers subject to inspection covered by this handbook

4. The providers we inspect under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and using this handbook are:

further education colleges

sixth-form colleges

independent specialist colleges

local authority providers

employer providers

16 to 19 academies/free schools

5. The term 'further education and skills provider' covers all of these types of provider and all of the types of provision set out in detail at paragraph 99 (education programmes for young people, adult learning, apprenticeship provision at all levels, and provision for high needs learners). Apprenticeship training at all levels is understood to be part of skills training.

6. 'Learner' is a collective term used throughout this handbook to refer to any person aged 16 or over (or, where relevant, 14 or 15 years old) whether they are a student, an apprentice or similar, who is in education or training of the kind set out in paragraph 99.

7. 'Teacher' is a collective term used throughout this handbook to refer to teachers, trainers, lecturers, mentors, assessors and staff in similar roles.

Privacy notice

8. During an inspection, inspectors will collect information about staff and learners by talking to them, by looking at documents, records and survey responses and other recorded information and by observing everyday life at the provider. Inspectors may also meet with employers where appropriate. Ofsted uses this information to prepare its report and for the purposes set out in its privacy policy. We will not record names, but some of the information may make it possible to identify an individual.

9. Individuals and organisations have legal requirements to provide information to Ofsted as part of inspections. Ofsted has legal powers under section 132 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 that relate to inspecting providers of further education and skills for learners aged 16 and over. Inspectors can 'inspect, take copies of, or take away any documents relating to the education or training' of students from the provider's premises. These powers also enable our inspectors to inspect computers and other devices that may hold this information.

Inspection and the COVID-19 pandemic

10. This section sets out our approach as inspections resume. It covers how we will reflect the COVID-19 context when making judgements. It also covers the transitional period. We will keep our handbooks and methodology under review as circumstances change and we continue to emerge from the pandemic. This section should be read alongside the other parts of the inspection handbook.

Preparation and planning

11. During the planning call with the inspection nominee, the lead inspector will seek to understand the specific impact of COVID-19 on the provider and learners and how leaders and managers responded to the situation.

12. This discussion will also explore how the provider implemented the curriculum and what, if any, elements of remote education remain in place at the time of inspection.

13. In this conversation, the lead inspector and nominee will agree safety protocols that the inspection team will follow to ensure that the inspection is completed in a COVID-19 secure way as necessary (see 'Actions for FE colleges and providers during the coronavirus outbreak').

Curriculum

14. Inspectors recognise that providers may have been unable to implement the curriculum in the usual way during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will seek to understand how leaders and managers have adapted and prioritised the curriculum.

15. This will include exploring how the provider implemented the curriculum remotely. Inspectors will also look at how managers and staff have been identifying learning gaps and any new starting points of learners and how managers and staff have been responding to that in their curriculum planning.

Personal development

16. When forming judgements about personal development, inspectors will seek to understand what took place before the pandemic, what the provider has in place currently and what its future plans are. Inspectors recognise that many elements of personal development that were in place before the pandemic may have been disrupted. Therefore, they will focus on understanding the steps that leaders have taken to offer or to restore a wide range of personal development opportunities.

Remote education

17. Inspectors recognise that there are some limited circumstances in which learners may need to learn remotely. Ofsted does not have a preferred model for remote education. The quality of remote education between March and August 2020 will not impact on our judgement of the provider's education.

18. Where remote education remains in place, inspectors may observe remote teaching and training and review materials. We will only expect to see the provider's typical approach to remote education and do not expect providers to arrange anything solely for inspection.

19. To understand the implementation of the curriculum, inspectors may discuss remote education with teachers, trainers and learners. They may also review completed work and teaching materials.

20. Given the above, when we refer to the intent, implementation and impact of the curriculum and quality of education within this handbook, we are including remote education. We consider that education delivered remotely or online should be integrated into the programme of education/training, and be designed to support the wider implementation of the provider's curriculum.

External data

21. Inspectors will consider available external data, as set out in paragraphs 153 to 155. However, they will be mindful of the age and relevance of this data when making judgements.

Leadership

22. Inspectors will seek to understand how leaders have adapted their development plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rationale for any new or modified improvement priorities.

Safeguarding

23. Inspectors will consider how leaders and managers adapted approaches to safeguarding during the pandemic to make sure that:

Inspectors will discuss how safeguarding arrangements have changed over time due to the pandemic, and how leaders and managers have made sure that they remain effective.

Remote elements of the inspection

24. As with our practice before the pandemic, we will continue to carry out some elements of the inspection or monitoring visit using video or telephone calls, where that is the most effective means of gathering information. We may use these calls to involve staff, learners, employers, those responsible for governance, subcontractors and others.

Part 1. How further education and skills providers will be inspected

How providers are selected for inspection

25. To decide when we should next inspect a provider, we use the 'frequency of inspection' guidance set out below. We also use risk assessment to ensure that our approach to inspection is proportionate, so that we can focus our efforts where we can have the greatest impact.

26. We use a broad range of information to assess risk and performance when selecting providers for inspection. This process applies in particular to good or outstanding providers. The indicators include:

27. We can use relevant information received at any point during the year to select providers. We will review this information regularly.

Frequency of inspection

28. Inspection intervals have been extended where necessary due to the suspension of routine inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020. The time extensions are detailed in footnotes. Further changes to inspection timescales will take effect from April 2022 onwards following the government's spending review. These are detailed throughout this section.

Providers judged outstanding

29. Providers judged outstanding for overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection are now all subject to routine inspection.

30. Those judged to be outstanding at their previous inspection before September 2015 will normally receive a full inspection. We will prioritise these inspections and they will continue to take place during 2022, regardless of the following changes to inspection arrangements.

31. The following types of provider will receive a full inspection between September 2022 and September 2025 in any case if currently graded outstanding (or any other grade):

32. Any outstanding provider delivering apprenticeship training (and not covered in paragraph 31) will receive a full inspection by September 2025, unless it has already had a full inspection since April 2021.

33. For any providers that are not covered in paragraphs 31 and 32, the following will apply. Those judged to be outstanding at their previous inspection before September 2015 will normally receive a full inspection by September 2025, which we will prioritise, unless they have already had a full inspection since April 2021. Those providers judged outstanding from September 2015 onwards at their previous inspection will normally receive a short inspection by September 2025, unless they have already had a full inspection since April 2021. For more information, see the section on short inspections (paragraphs 181 to 212).

34. Any outstanding provider in the following categories will receive an inspection as set out in paragraphs 30, 32 and 33:

This inspection will be within 6 years of the report publication date of their previous inspection or by September 2025, whichever is the sooner. Subsequent inspections of an outstanding provider would normally take place within six years of the publication of the inspection report of a provider being judged to be outstanding overall.

35. A provider judged as outstanding may also be inspected as part of our survey or research work, or through a monitoring visit.

Providers judged good

36. Providers judged good for overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection will normally be inspected within 5 years of the publication of their previous inspection report (extended to 7 years where the suspension of routine inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on inspection activity) and certainly by September 2025.

37. Inspections of good providers will continue to take place during 2022, regardless of the following changes to inspection arrangements.

38. The following types of provider will receive a full inspection between September 2022 and September 2025 in any case if currently graded good (or any other grade):

39. Any good provider delivering apprenticeship training (and not covered in paragraph 38) will receive a full inspection by September 2025 (unless it has already had a full inspection since April 2021).[footnote 10]

40. For any providers that are not covered in paragraphs 38 and 39, the following will apply. They will normally receive a short inspection. However, they may receive a full inspection if information suggests that this is the most appropriate way forward. This includes, for example, if there are concerns about safeguarding, if the provider's performance has declined or if its provision has changed substantially. For more information, see the section on short inspections (paragraphs 181 to 212) and paragraphs 25 to 27 on selecting providers. A good provider may also be inspected as part of our survey or research work, or through a monitoring visit.

Providers judged to require improvement

41. Providers judged to require improvement at their most recent inspection will normally receive a full inspection within 12 to 30 months of the publication of their previous inspection report.[footnote 11] These providers will normally be subject to a monitoring visit before the full inspection, normally 7 to 13 months after the publication of their previous inspection report (see paragraph 77).[footnote 12]

Providers judged inadequate

42. Providers judged inadequate will receive re-inspection monitoring visits, as outlined in paragraphs 78 to 80. These providers will then receive a full inspection (known as a 're-inspection') within 15 months of publication of their previous full inspection report, provided they continue to be funded.[footnote 13] The major exceptions to this are providers that no longer receive their main funding or that have been removed from the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) and deliver only apprenticeship provision. From that point, neither a re-inspection monitoring visit nor a full re-inspection will normally take place. If a provider has apprenticeship provision graded inadequate and has also been removed from the RoATP but still has other substantial funding, that apprenticeship provision will not normally be covered as part of the re-inspection monitoring visit and subsequent re-inspection.

New providers

43. We will normally carry out a monitoring visit to any provider that becomes newly, directly and publicly funded to deliver education and/or training.[footnote 14] This funding may be received from the Education and Skills Funding Agency ( ESFA), from a mayoral or combined authority ( MCA) or the Greater London Authority ( GLA) in the case of adult education, or through the apprenticeship levy.[footnote 15] The monitoring visit will normally take place within 24 months of the provider starting to deliver directly funded provision.[footnote 16] New providers starting to deliver provision from April 2021 onwards will normally receive their new provider monitoring visit within 18 months of starting to deliver. For more details about monitoring visits, see paragraphs 67 to 76.

44. New providers will normally receive their first full inspection within 24 months of the publication of their monitoring visit report.[footnote 17] From April 2022 onwards, new providers will normally receive their first full inspection within 18 months of the publication of their monitoring visit report. That will apply to providers whose monitoring visit reports were published from 1 April 2022 onwards. When a provider receives one or more insufficient progress judgements at their monitoring visit, it will normally receive a full inspection within 6 to 12 months of the publication of the monitoring visit report. We may carry out a full inspection of these providers without carrying out a monitoring visit, where appropriate.[footnote 18]

45. If a provider has made insufficient progress in safeguarding, it will normally receive one further monitoring visit to review only its safeguarding arrangements within 4 months of the publication date of its previous monitoring visit report.[footnote 19]

Providers with level 6/7 apprenticeship provision

46. Since 1 April 2021, Ofsted has been responsible for inspecting apprenticeship training (as defined in paragraph 99) at levels 6 and 7 (both degree and non-degree) as well as at levels 2 to 5.

47. How this affects providers in different categories is set out below.[footnote 20]

Providers with level 6/7 apprenticeship provision that have already received a full inspection

48. This relates to existing providers that have already received a full Ofsted inspection (whether under the EIF or previous inspection frameworks) and that deliver level 6/7 apprenticeship training. When they next receive a full or short inspection or monitoring visit, we will inspect their level 6/7 apprenticeship provision alongside any level 2 to 5 apprenticeship provision and any other provision they deliver subject to Ofsted inspection (as set out in paragraph 99). The timing of their inspection will depend on their overall effectiveness grade, as usual and as set out above.[footnote 21]

Providers with level 6/7 apprenticeship provision and no other provision subject to Ofsted education inspection

49. Providers that only deliver apprenticeship provision at levels 6 and 7 and have been delivering no other provision subject to Ofsted inspection (see paragraph 99) will be regarded as a new provider from April 2021. Currently, they will receive their first new provider monitoring visit within 24 months of 1 April 2021, when our extended remit came into effect.[footnote 22] From April 2022, this will change; new providers of level 6 and 7 only provision will normally receive their first new provider monitoring visit within 18 months of 1 April 2021.

50. These providers will then receive a full inspection within 24 months of the monitoring visit report being published. From April 2022, a new provider of this kind will normally receive its first full inspection within 18 months of the publication of its monitoring visit report. That will apply to providers whose monitoring visit reports were published from 1 April 2022 onwards. When a provider receives one or more insufficient progress judgements at its monitoring visit, it will normally receive a full inspection within 6 to 12 months of the publication of the monitoring visit report. Paragraph 45 will also apply where a provider has made insufficient progress in safeguarding.

New providers with level 6/7 apprenticeship provision that have not yet received their monitoring visit or full inspection

51. New providers that deliver apprenticeship provision at levels 6 and 7 as well as at levels 2 to 5 and have not previously received a monitoring visit or a full inspection will normally receive a monitoring visit within 36 months of the date they started to deliver apprenticeship provision (on account of COVID-19). New providers starting to deliver any apprenticeship provision (or other relevant funded provision) for the first time from April 2021 onwards will normally receive their new provider monitoring visit within 18 months of starting to deliver (see paragraph 43). The monitoring visit will take account of apprenticeship provision at all levels.[footnote 23]

52. These providers will then receive a full inspection within 24 months of the monitoring visit report being published. From April 2022, a new provider of this kind will normally receive its full inspection within 18 months of the publication of its monitoring visit report. That will apply to providers whose monitoring visit reports were published from 1 April 2022. When a provider receives one or more 'insufficient progress' judgements, the full inspection will usually be within 6 to 12 months. Paragraph 45 will also apply where a provider has made insufficient progress in safeguarding.

New providers with level 6/7 apprenticeship provision that have received a new provider monitoring visit but not a full inspection

53. New providers that have received their first new provider monitoring visit but have not yet received their full inspection will normally receive this within 40 months of the date of publication of their new provider monitoring visit.

Newly merged colleges

54. A newly merged college will normally receive a full inspection within 3 years of the merger.[footnote 24] This will normally be a full inspection. For inspection purposes, regardless of the type of merger, we view all merged colleges as new colleges.[footnote 25] A newly merged college will not carry forward any inspection grades from predecessor colleges. It will have no inspection grade until the first full inspection.

55. Any newly merged college may receive a monitoring visit at any reasonable time. A newly merged college will normally receive a monitoring visit before the first full inspection if the overall effectiveness grade of one or more of the predecessor colleges was requires improvement or inadequate.[footnote 26] These monitoring visits will focus on relevant themes about the progress of the merged college, including from the most recent report(s) of the predecessor college(s). Monitoring visits will normally arrive at progress judgements against these themes as set out in paragraph 69. The monitoring visit report will normally be published. Concerns about risks arising from this or other sources may lead to an earlier full inspection.[footnote 27]

Sixth-form colleges that convert to become 16 to 19 academies

56. Sixth-form colleges that convert to become 16 to 19 academies will be treated according to their most recent inspection outcome. Those that are outstanding will receive either a full or short inspection by September 2025 (see paragraphs 30, 32 and 33). Those that were good will normally receive a short inspection within 7 years of the publication of their previous inspection report and certainly by September 2025 (but may receive a full inspection within that timeframe if risks are identified, see paragraphs 36, 38 and 39). Those judged as requires improvement will normally be inspected within 12 to 30 months of the publication of the previous report. They will normally receive a monitoring visit within 7 to 13 months of the publication of the previous report (as set out in paragraphs 41 and 77). Those judged inadequate will normally be inspected within 15 months of the publication of the report of the previous inspection of the converted college.[footnote 28] They will normally receive re-inspection monitoring visits as set out in paragraphs 42 and 78 to 80.

57. A 16 to 19 academy/free school that is re-brokered (transferred to a new sponsor) for performance reasons will be treated as a new provider from the point of re-brokerage for the purposes of inspection.

Types of inspection

Full inspection

58. Providers that are graded as requires improvement or inadequate will undergo a full inspection as outlined in paragraphs 41. Inspectors grade the overall effectiveness, the types of provision and the other key judgements areas in accordance with the criteria and grade descriptors set out in part 2 of this handbook.[footnote 29]

59. Providers judged as outstanding will have a full inspection if they fall into the categories set out in paragraphs 30 to 32.

60. Providers judged as good will have a full inspection if they fall into the categories set out in paragraphs 38 and 39. They may also have a full inspection if they fall into the category of provider as set out in paragraph 40 if, for example, there are concerns about safeguarding, their performance has declined or the provision in scope for inspection has changed substantially.

61. New providers will receive a full inspection once they have had a new provider monitoring visit as set out in paragraphs 43 to 45 and 49 to 53.

62. Ofsted reserves the right to carry out a full inspection of any provider at any reasonable time.

Short inspections

63. Providers judged good at their previous inspection will normally receive a full inspection if they fall into categories set out in paragraphs 38 and 39. They will normally receive a short inspection but may receive a full inspection if they fall into categories set out in paragraph 40.

64. Providers judged outstanding whose previous inspection took place before September 2015 will normally receive a short inspection next providing that they do not fall into the categories set out in paragraphs 31 and 32.

65. A short inspection will determine primarily whether the quality of education/training that learners receive is good (in the case of a good provider) or outstanding (in the case of an outstanding provider). For information about short inspections, see paragraphs 181 to 212 of this handbook.

Survey and research visits

66. We may visit any provider, including those judged good or outstanding, as part of our surveys and research work, based on our national priorities. We may carry out visits at any reasonable time.

Monitoring visits

67. A monitoring visit is an interim type of inspection that explores one or more specific themes. The purpose of a monitoring visit is to assess progress against these themes to encourage improvement, assess risk and measure progress. We may carry out a monitoring visit of any provider at any reasonable time. For example, if we have significant cause for concern, such as about safeguarding or a breakdown in leadership and management, we may carry out a monitoring visit focused on that specific issue.

68. Providers will normally receive 2 working days' notice of a monitoring visit, although they may be unannounced where that is considered appropriate. They will normally last up to 2 days on site. They will normally result in a published monitoring visit report. Concerns arising from monitoring visits may lead to an earlier full inspection or to a further monitoring visit as appropriate.

69. We will normally use one of the following progress judgements on monitoring visits:

reasonable progress: the provider's actions are already having a beneficial impact on learners, and improvements are sustainable and are based on the provider's thorough quality assurance procedures

significant progress: progress has been rapid and is already having considerable beneficial impact on learners

70. Monitoring visits follow a similar process to that set out in part 1 of this handbook, except where otherwise noted. Inspectors will make progress judgements based on the themes explored on that visit. They will use part 2 of this handbook as the broader context for monitoring visits.

Monitoring visits to providers that are newly directly publicly funded

71. We will normally carry out a monitoring visit to any provider that becomes newly directly and publicly funded, as set out in paragraph 43. This visit will normally be carried out within 24 months of starting to deliver the directly funded provision. New providers starting to deliver provision from April 2021 onwards will normally receive their new provider monitoring visit within 18 months of starting to deliver. These monitoring visits will follow themes. In each case, inspectors will review:

72. The precise wording of the themes for the most commonly recurring types of new provider are as follows.

Type of new provider

Leadership and management theme

Quality of education and/or training theme

Safeguarding theme

Providers newly directly funded to deliver apprenticeship training provision from or after April 2017 and new providers of level 6 or 7 apprenticeship provision[footnote 31]

How much progress have leaders made in ensuring that the provider is meeting all the requirements of successful apprenticeship provision?

What progress have leaders and managers made in ensuring that apprentices benefit from high-quality training that leads to positive outcomes for apprentices?

How much progress have leaders and managers made in ensuring that effective safeguarding arrangements are in place?

Providers newly directly funded to deliver adult learning provision from or after August 2017[footnote 32]

How much progress have leaders and managers made in designing and delivering relevant adult learning provision that has a clearly defined purpose?

How much progress have leaders and managers made to ensure that learners benefit from high-quality adult education that prepares them well for their intended job role, career aim and/or personal goals?

How much progress have leaders and managers made in ensuring that effective safeguarding arrangements are in place?

New independent specialist colleges newly ESFA funded from August 2018 onwards

How much progress have leaders and managers made in designing and delivering relevant learning programmes that are clearly defined and tailored to suit the individual needs of learners?

How much progress have leaders and managers made in ensuring that learners benefit from high-quality learning programmes that develop their independence, communication and skills, and help them to achieve their personal and/or work-related goals?

How much progress have leaders and managers made in ensuring that effective safeguarding arrangements are in place?

New 16 to 19 academies directly funded from August 2019 onwards and new providers that deliver only 16 to 18 provision

How much progress have leaders and managers made in designing and delivering relevant education programmes that have a clearly defined purpose?

How much progress have leaders and managers made to ensure that learners benefit from high-quality education programmes for young people that prepare them well for their intended job role, career aim and/or personal goals?

How much progress have leaders and managers made in ensuring that effective safeguarding arrangements are in place?

73. We will adapt these themes to apply to other types of new providers as necessary to ensure best fit. They will still follow the format and approach set out above.

74. For these new providers, inspectors make progress judgements by taking into account that the provider is newly directly funded and by considering the impact of actions taken to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours of learners.

75. If the provider has other types of provision, each type of provision will be covered by a separate theme and progress judgement.[footnote 33]

76. If a provider is judged to have made insufficient progress in the safeguarding theme, it will normally receive one further monitoring visit to review only its safeguarding arrangements within 4 months of the previous monitoring visit.

Monitoring visits to providers judged to require improvement

77. We will normally carry out a monitoring visit to a provider that has been judged to require improvement. The visit will normally take place between 7 and 13 months from the publication of its inspection report in which it was judged to require improvement.[footnote 34] Inspectors will make progress judgements on the main areas for improvement identified in that report. The monitoring visit will result in a published report.[footnote 35] Through the monitoring visit, inspectors will challenge the provider to improve so that it can become good by the next full inspection.[footnote 36] The report will set out what progress the provider has made since the previous inspection.

Re-inspection monitoring visits to providers judged to be inadequate

78. We normally carry out re-inspection monitoring visits to providers found to be inadequate overall after the publication of their inspection report, except when their main funding has been terminated and/or they have been removed from the RoATP and they deliver only apprenticeship provision.[footnote 37]

79. Re-inspection monitoring visit themes will be based on the main areas for improvement identified in the inspection report. Inspectors will make a progress judgement against each theme as set out in paragraph 69. The re-inspection monitoring visit report will be published. Through the monitoring visit, inspectors will challenge the provider to improve. The report will set out what progress the provider has made since the previous inspection.

80. The first re-inspection monitoring visit will normally take place within 6 months of the date of publication of the previous inspection report, if the provider continues to be funded. A second re-inspection monitoring visit will normally take place within 10 months of the date of publication of the previous inspection report, if the provider continues to be funded.[footnote 38]

Interim visits and progress monitoring visits

81. We suspended routine inspection activity between 17 March 2020 and 15 March 2021. During that time, we carried out the following forms of interim inspection activity.

Interim visits

82. Between September and December 2020, we carried out interim visits to a range of providers. We published the reports. These included no specific judgements or recommendations.

Progress monitoring visits

83. From 25 January 2021 to 19 March 2021, we carried out progress monitoring visits (PMVs) to:

providers that were judged to require improvement and that had not yet received a monitoring visit since their previous full inspection

providers that were judged inadequate and that had not yet received a monitoring visit since their previous full inspection or that were due their second re-inspection monitoring visit (if they continued to be publicly funded)

new providers (as per paragraphs 43 and 44) that were due a full inspection and that had received a new provider monitoring visit 2 years ago or more (subject to a provider's individual circumstances)

other providers as necessary

84. These PMVs were a type of monitoring visit so we published their reports and these included a single progress judgement against the following overall theme:

What progress are leaders and those responsible for governance making to ensure that staff teach a curriculum and provide support to meet learners' needs, including the provision of remote/online learning?

85. We carried out PMVs under the national lockdown in force at that time. Therefore, we did them remotely. This limited our ability to provide the same level of assurance that on-site activity would provide.

86. Following the PMV, a provider that requires improvement would receive a requires improvement monitoring visit ( RIMV), following normal arrangements. However, these providers may have chosen to forgo their RIMV and go straight to a full re-inspection as their next inspection activity.

87. Following the PMV, an inadequate provider would normally receive a re-inspection monitoring visit ( RMV), following normal arrangements. However, these providers may have chosen to forgo their RMV (or both RMVs if they are due 2 visits) and go straight to the full re-inspection as their next inspection activity.

88. Following a PMV, all other providers will receive whatever inspection they would expect under normal arrangements. We will take into account the outcome of a provider's PMV when reviewing the timing of its next full inspection.

Pilots

89. From time to time, we may pilot different approaches to inspection. We will provide details for this on a case-by-case basis.

Scope of inspection

90. We will normally inspect providers that have one or more of the following that they are directly responsible for:

91. Subcontracted provision that is part of the directly funded provider's responsibility is also within the scope of inspection. As part of the inspection, inspectors may look at any provision carried out on behalf of the provider by subcontractors or partners. Typically, visits to, or communications with, subcontractors are likely to include inspecting the direct contract holder's arrangements to quality assure and improve the provision.

92. Inspections will not include provision that the provider operates under subcontracted arrangements on behalf of other providers.

93. Ofsted reserves the right to inspect and grade any subcontractor and its provision as a separate entity against the EIF and this handbook.

94. Any provision that is part of a pilot scheme is normally outside the scope for inspection. Provision funded by the European Social Fund is normally outside the scope of inspection.

Inspecting residential provision in colleges

95. We inspect residential accommodation in colleges taking into account the national minimum standards for the accommodation of students aged under 18. The standards apply to 'institutions within the further education sector', as defined by section 91 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which have residential accommodation for 16- and 17-year-olds. These inspections are separate from the inspection of the education and training provision of the college described in this handbook.

96. Our social care inspectors carry out these inspections. The approach is set out in the 'Social care common inspection framework (SCCIF): residential provision of further education colleges'. If a college is registered as a care home, the Care Quality Commission inspects the accommodation.

Inspection of religious education and collective worship in relation to Catholic sixth-form colleges

97. In the case of these colleges, the relevant Catholic diocese will inspect their denominational religious education, Catholic ethos and the content of collective worship. Our inspectors will not comment on the content of religious worship or on denominational religious education. Inspectors may visit lessons and assemblies in order to help them evaluate how these contribute to students' personal development and behaviour and attitudes.

What inspections will cover

98. On a full inspection, inspectors will make an overall effectiveness judgement and key judgements on:

99. They will also make judgements on each major type of provision offered, as set out in the table below.

Type of provision

Description of provision

Education programmes for young people

Provision funded through the ESFA 16 to 18 classroom-based funding stream for study programmes and traineeships for those aged 16 to 18 and for ESFA-funded full-time provision for 14- to 16-year-olds enrolled in colleges. This may include provision funded through the 16 to 19 tuition fund. T level technical education programmes are not currently treated as within inspection scope.

Adult learning programmes

Provision funded through the adult education budget and/or advanced learning loans, including employability training for learners aged 19 and over referred for training by Jobcentre Plus. This includes community learning provision and traineeships for those aged 19 and over. This may include adult education provision funded by GLA and/or MCAs. This currently does not include skills bootcamps. It does not cover the diploma for education and training.

Apprenticeships (at all levels)

Apprenticeship training at all levels: that is levels 2 to 7 funded by the ESFA and/or through the apprenticeship levy in whatever type of provider they are delivered.[footnote 41] This includes, from 1 April 2021, apprenticeships at levels 6 and 7 (whether degree or non-degree).

The whole of a provider's apprenticeship provision is inspected, graded and reported on collectively, irrespective of the level(s) of provision delivered. The inspection of the level 5 learning and skills teacher apprenticeship standard and level 6 teacher apprenticeship fall under the initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook. and not the education inspection framework and so not on inspections covered by this handbook.

Provision for learners with high needs

Provision for learners for which providers receive high-needs funding in addition to 16 to 18 ESFA funding for study programmes and/or 16 to 18 apprenticeships. Learners up to the age of 24 may be eligible for this funding.

100. Inspectors will take account of all types of provision within the scope of the inspection. They will grade and report on the types of provision. If the number of learners in a particular type of provision is very low and/or the provision is very new and inspectors cannot gather sufficient evidence to arrive at a graded judgement, it will not be graded.[footnote 42]

101. The quality of provision for learners with high needs and with special educational needs and/or disabilities ( SEND), a much broader group than those attracting high-needs funding, will always be considered during the inspection of any type of provision.

102. Sector subject areas will not be graded or reported on separately. However, inspectors may use their subject expertise to contribute to the evidence base for types of provision judgements, key judgements and progress judgements.[footnote 43]

103. The lead inspector will normally confirm to the provider which types of provision will be graded separately.

Before the inspection

104. The lead inspector's planning will focus primarily on how inspectors will gather evidence of learners' experiences, to evaluate the different types of provision offered by the provider against the 4 key judgements of the EIF.

105. Inspectors' evidence-gathering will be primarily made up of focused curriculum reviews or 'deep dives', including lesson/session/lecture/workshop visits, scrutinising learners' work/training and assessment, and discussions with learners and teachers/ trainers. Inspectors may carry out some inspection activities jointly with members of the provider's staff.

106. Inspectors may plan visits to learners at work at their employer's or at subcontractor's premises and carry out inspection activities. These visits give inspectors the opportunity to hold discussions with learners and employers, to discuss learning programmes and to look at learners' work. Inspectors may carry out interviews/discussions with learners, employers and staff via telephone, video calls or webinars.

The role of the nominee in inspection

107. Each provider is invited to nominate a senior member of staff to act as the provider's main link with the inspection team. The nominee should:

108. The nominee's responsibilities include:

providing information for the lead inspector to support inspection planning

liaising with the lead inspector and ensuring that documents and other information are available, and that staff can attend meetings

briefing the provider's staff about arrangements

informing learners, employers, parents, carers and staff that they can give their views through the relevant online questionnaires (see 'Seeking the views of learners, parents and carers, employers and staff' below)[footnote 45]

attending team meetings, in particular the final grading/ judgement team meeting

coordinating feedback arrangements in particular at the end of the inspection

Notification of inspection

109. Notification of all types of further education and skills inspections and monitoring visits normally takes place up to 2 working days before the inspection unless the inspection is unannounced. Ofsted reserves the right to carry out unannounced inspections or monitoring visits.

110. We will normally notify the provider in the morning of the notification day and will email the notification letter. The lead inspector will then contact the provider, normally by phone, as soon as possible and by the following morning at the latest. The lead inspector should make sure that:

Planning for the inspection

111. As soon as the provider has been notified of the inspection, staff should draw together the information in paragraph 114. These should be working documents and not prepared specifically for the inspection. Inspectors should keep the review of documentation to a minimum. Providers are not expected to prepare anything extra for inspectors.

112. Inspectors should be aware that the provider will need to accommodate the inspection while still managing day-to-day operations.

113. A provider may request a deferral of its monitoring visit or inspection. We will decide whether this should be granted in accordance with our deferral policy. The lead inspector will liaise with the provider to ensure that, wherever possible, the inspection or monitoring visit can go ahead.

114. To ensure that the lead inspector has a clear understanding of the scope and range of provision and information needed to plan the logistics of the inspection, the nominee will send the following information, as applicable, as soon as possible:

115. To ensure that the provider understands the inspection process, the lead inspector will hold a telephone planning meeting with the nominee/most senior member of staff.[footnote 47]

116. The lead inspector will use the telephone planning meeting to arrange how information is made available to inspectors. The provider should inform all subcontractors' staff, current learners, employers and other users about the inspection. It should emphasise that inspectors may visit any sessions involving learners either on the provider's premises or at other locations, including learners' workplaces or online.

117. During the planning call with the inspection nominee, the lead inspector will seek to understand the specific impact of COVID-19 on the provider and learners and how leaders and managers responded to the situation.

118. This discussion will also explore how the provider implemented the curriculum remotely and what, if any, elements of remote education remain in place at the time of inspection.

119. In this conversation, the nominee and lead inspector will agree safety protocols that the inspection team will follow to ensure that the inspection is completed in a COVID-19 secure way.

120. The lead inspector will discuss with the provider the inspectors' schedule and the activities that inspectors will carry out face to face and those they plan to carry out remotely, such as through telephone or video calls.

121. The lead inspector will draw up a pre-inspection team briefing for the inspection team and the nominee. The purpose of this briefing is to focus inspection activity and identify areas for exploration, in particular the areas of the curriculum that will be reviewed through 'deep dives' (focused curriculum reviews).

122. Inspectors will select the 'deep dive' curriculum review areas they will focus on (and associated inspection activities, such as which learners and employers are being visited). They will take into account a range of factors, including:

123. The team briefing letter will provide details about the start of the on-site inspection, including the location and timing of the initial meeting and any other relevant arrangements for the first day, including the planned curriculum reviews.

Seeking the views of learners, parents and carers, employers and staff

124. Learners' views are important to inspection. It is important that all learners can express their views to inspectors. This also applies to employers and any other key stakeholders. Inspectors will consider the views of learners, parents and carers, provider staff and employers as important evidence.

125. Ofsted's online questionnaires for learners and employers (called Learner View and Employer View) are available to gather the views of learners and employers at the point of inspection. There are also online questionnaires for parents and carers of learners and for provider staff available at the point of inspection. After notifying the provider of the inspection, we ask the nominee to tell all staff, learners, employers and (where appropriate) parents and carers of learners that the inspection is taking place. The nominee should ask them to give their views to the inspection team by using these online questionnaires.[footnote 48]

126. Surveys of the views of learners, employers, parents/carers and staff carried out by the provider, funding bodies or other organisations provide evidence for the inspection and may indicate themes to explore further. They do not replace talking with learners, employers and staff during the inspection or views collected through our online questionnaires.

127. Inspectors will speak to a range of learners and employers, often as part of the 'deep dive' focused curriculum reviews. This may happen face to face or remotely, for instance through a webinar or online meeting. We may use other surveys to capture views.

128. Inspectors will take account of views expressed to them by learners, employers, parents, governors, staff and the nominee. Staff and learners must be able to speak to inspectors in private to ensure that the presence of the nominee or senior staff does not influence their responses. Meetings during the inspection may include those with samples of learners selected by inspectors and open-invitation meetings. As part of the inspection of safeguarding arrangements, inspectors will meet with learners. This will normally involve meeting with specific groups of learners in particular single-sex groups, where the provider is a college with children and young people.[footnote 49]

129. The lead inspector will take account of any external views on the provider's performance, for example through briefings from commissioning and funding bodies or other relevant regulators or inspectorates.

During the inspection

Days allocated to inspection and inspection team members

130. Inspections and monitoring visits will be led by either one of Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) or an Ofsted Inspector (OI) assisted by other HMIs and/or OIs.[footnote 50]

131. A full inspection normally lasts between 2 and 5 days on site. The number of inspectors involved will vary according to the size and complexity of the provider. Some inspectors may only be needed for part of the inspection. How the lead inspector will deploy the team depends on the number of learners and sites, the type(s) of provision and range of learning programmes.

132. Short inspections (see paragraphs 181 to 212) normally last no longer than 2 days on site. The number of inspectors involved will vary according to the size and complexity of the provider. Some inspectors may only be needed for part of the inspection.

133. Monitoring visits usually last between 1 and 2 days, depending on the scope of the visit and size of the provider. They will usually involve one or two inspectors (but may sometimes involve more).

Gathering and recording evidence

134. Inspections will normally begin with in-depth discussions with provider leaders and managers about the provider's curriculum to establish the intent of the curriculum. Inspectors will ask about what leaders intend learners to learn; what are the end points and next steps they wish them to reach through this; what are the key concepts that they need to understand; and in what order they will learn them.

135. Although meetings with leaders are important, inspectors' first priority during inspections is to collect first-hand evidence.

136. Inspectors will primarily do this through a range of inspection activities, grouped into focused curriculum reviews, known as 'deep dives'. These will provide evidence of the effective implementation of the curriculum and its intent - but they will also gather evidence which may be relevant to the other key judgement areas and progress judgements. These activities will be focused on curriculum areas selected by the lead inspector (see paragraph 122).

137. These inspection activities include:

138. Evidence drawn from these different activities and focused on specific curriculum areas should provide valid, reliable and sufficient evidence of the quality of education and training when connected, combined and brought together.

139. Evidence from these curriculum-related activities will also inform the other key judgements: behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management.

140. Inspectors will also carry out other inspection activities to gather evidence for the key judgements. These may include:

141. These will include reviewing records about safeguarding, including those relating to sexual harassment and violence and online sexual abuse.

142. During the inspection, inspectors will collect, analyse and record evidence and their judgements on paper or electronic evidence forms. It is essential that the evidence accurately reflects discussions. Inspectors should identify clearly information that was provided in confidence. The evidence forms, together with any briefings, plans or instructions prepared by the lead inspector, and responses from learners and employers (in hard copy, online or other formats) contribute to the evidence base. The lead inspector is responsible for assuring the quality of evidence.

143. Ofsted has no preferred teaching style. Inspectors judge the quality of education by the ways in which learners acquire knowledge, develop skills and exhibit appropriate behaviours for work and success in life or study. Teaching staff should plan their lessons/sessions as usual.

144. Inspectors may visit employers, to observe learners' on-the-job skills development and speak to employers and their staff.

145. Inspectors will not normally indicate which sessions they plan to observe. The team reserves the right to visit any learner or employer and may cancel or add visits to ensure that enough evidence is collected. Inspectors will not normally give feedback to individual members of staff following these sessions.

Observations of teaching and training

146. An important element of the inspection approach will be to visit lessons, workshops or sessions where teaching, training, learning and assessment are happening. This may include visits to online lessons. Inspectors may often invite appropriate staff from the provider to take part in joint observations of these learning sessions.

147. Observation is primarily useful for gathering evidence about curriculum implementation and how teaching and training sessions contribute to the quality of education and training. Inspectors can use observations to gather evidence about how well staff implement the curriculum by looking at teaching of one or more subjects, and by triangulating observations with evidence collected through discussions with staff, learners, and, where relevant, employers, and through work scrutiny.

148. Inspectors will connect observation activity to other evidence for triangulation and as part of the deep dives. Observation is not about evaluating individual teachers or trainers. Inspectors will not grade the teaching or training they observe. Instead, inspectors will view teaching and training across a sample of the provision to provide part of the evidence base to inform inspection judgements, in particular the quality of education and training.

149. Observation is also useful for gathering evidence that contributes to other key judgements, including behaviour and attitudes. Observation enables inspectors to see direct evidence about how behaviour is managed and how behaviours and attitudes are developed in individual learning sessions. This evidence will complement the other evidence that inspectors gather about behaviour and attitudes during inspection.

Work scrutiny

150. Inspectors may scrutinise learners' work across the provider and aggregate insights to provide part of the evidence for an overall view of quality of education, primarily around the impact of the education provided. Inspectors will not evaluate individual pieces of work. Inspectors will connect work scrutiny to lesson observation and, where possible, conversations with learners, staff and, where appropriate, with employers.

151. Inspectors may invite appropriate staff from the provider to take part in joint scrutiny of learners' work.

152. Work scrutiny is useful primarily for gathering evidence about the curriculum impact of the quality of education. Inspectors can use work scrutiny to evaluate learners' progress and progression through their course of study. Work scrutiny will show whether learners know more and can do more, and whether the knowledge and skills they have learned are well sequenced and have developed incrementally. Inspectors will synthesise what they find in order to contribute to their overall assessment of the quality of education across the provider.

The use of data

153. Inspection uses a range of data that is available. Both before and during the inspection, inspectors will analyse the performance of the provider using the most recent validated data. They will take into account the age and relevance of the data. Analysis may be at overall provider level and/or for individual subjects or types of provision. Although data alone will not lead directly to judgements, the primary data that measures success for each type of provision will provide important evidence for judging the impact of the quality of education.

154. Inspectors will evaluate learners' progress in relation to their starting points, based on their rate of learning, acquisition of knowledge, skills and behaviours and whether they have achieved their individual, challenging targets. They will also take account of data about the destinations learners go to when they leave the provider.

155. Inspectors will not look at internal progress and attainment data on GCSE and A-level courses where fixed-time terminal examinations comprise the entire assessment of the course. Similarly, inspectors will not normally look at predicted in-year achievement and attainment data more generally (teacher assessed grades from 2020 and 2021 will not normally be used to assess impact). That does not mean providers cannot use this data if they consider it appropriate. Inspectors will, however, put more focus on the curriculum and less on providers' generation, analysis and interpretation of performance data. Inspectors will be interested in the conclusions drawn and actions taken from any internal assessment information but they will not examine or verify that information first hand.

The self-assessment report

156. Inspectors will use self-assessment reports, or equivalent documents, to assess risk, monitor standards and plan for inspection.

157. If these documents are not available in advance, the provider should share the latest report/plan(s) with the lead inspector following notification of the inspection.

158. Inspectors will, in any case, use other readily available information about the provider.

159. Ofsted does not require self-assessment to be provided in a specific format. Any assessment that is provided should be part of the provider's processes and not generated solely for inspection purposes.[footnote 51]

Meetings during inspection

160. Inspectors are likely to have a number of different meetings with provider staff for different purposes. They will try to minimise disruption to the provider's regular business and to the inspection team's focus on assessing the quality of education and training. Therefore, meetings will be kept brief and purposeful.

161. Inspections will normally begin with in-depth discussion with senior leaders and managers about the provider's curriculum to establish the intent of the curriculum. This initial meeting will also provide useful insights into leadership and management and other areas. There may be other meetings with senior leaders, including the nominee as necessary, as the inspection progresses.

162. Inspectors carrying out deep dives focusing on specific areas of the curriculum will normally meet with key curriculum staff. This is to understand its intent and implementation before carrying out their inspection activities to review that area of the curriculum. Other types of meeting have been referred to above in paragraphs 134 and 137.

163. The inspection team itself will hold meetings. They may include the whole team or 2 or more inspectors. They may be held remotely, by telephone or video call, or face to face. These meetings may include:

an initial team meeting to:

brief the inspection team on the schedule for the inspection

clarify any queries about team members' roles

receive a brief update from the provider, including, if appropriate, an initial briefing from the provider's managers with relevant responsibilities for key areas to be covered of the inspection[footnote 52]

a meeting for the nominee to hear the emerging judgements and identify any opportunities to provide additional evidence

a grading/progress judgement meeting to reach judgements about the provider

164. The nominee may attend some inspection team meetings, although they may not contribute to decisions about inspection judgements. By taking part in discussions about evidence collected during the inspection, the nominee can help to ensure that all appropriate evidence is taken into account. Any concerns about evidence should be raised with the lead inspector. The nominee will report to the provider's staff on the progress of the inspection.

165. Inspectors may hold additional meetings with the provider's staff.

166. The lead inspector will hold a feedback meeting for the provider and invitees to hear the key messages at the end of the inspection. Members of ESFA staff may attend to hear the feedback.[footnote 53]

Reaching final judgements

167. Inspectors will discuss emerging findings with the nominee and, where appropriate, with senior staff.

168. The lead inspector will ensure that the inspection team agrees the judgements for full inspections using the descriptors in part 2 of this handbook.[footnote 54] The overall judgements will reflect all of the evidence considered by the inspection team. The evidence base must support the judgements convincingly.

Providing feedback

169. Before leaving, the lead inspector should ensure that the provider is clear:

that the points provided in the feedback, subject to any change, will be generally reflected in the report, although the text of the report may differ slightly from the oral feedback

about the main findings and areas for improvement

that inspection findings may be shared with the Further Education Commissioner, ESFA, DfE, Ofqual, Office for Students ( OfS) or other relevant regulator/inspectorate before the publication of the report

about the procedures that will lead to the publication of the report

about the complaints procedure

that, if the overall effectiveness or the leadership and management of a sixth-form college, further education college or designated institution are judged inadequate, this has implications for the college in relation to appointing newly qualified staff in future years

After the inspection

Arrangements for publishing the report

170. The lead inspector is responsible for writing the inspection report and submitting the evidence to Ofsted shortly after the inspection ends. The text of the report should reflect the evidence. The findings in the report should be consistent with the feedback given to the provider at the end of the inspection.

171. Inspection reports will be quality assured before we send a draft copy to the provider. The provider will receive the draft report within 18 working days after the end of the inspection. The draft report is restricted and confidential to the relevant personnel (as determined by the provider), including those responsible for governance, and should not be shared externally or published. The inspection process is not complete until the provider receives the final version of the report. We may share the draft findings and/or provisional judgements of the inspection/monitoring visit with the Further Education Commissioner, ESFA, MCAs or the GLA, DfE, Ofqual, OfS or other relevant regulator/inspectorate as necessary (that might entail sharing the draft report in whole or in part).

172. The provider will have 5 working days to comment on the draft report, inspection process and findings. We will consider all comments. We will respond to them when we share the final report with the provider within 30 working days after the inspection.

173. If the provider wishes to make a formal complaint, it has 5 working days after we have shared the final report with it in which to do so. If a complaint is not submitted, we will normally publish the report on our reports website 3 working days later. If a complaint has been submitted, the publication of the report may be delayed.

The inspection evidence base

174. The evidence base for the inspection must be retained for the time specified in our guidance.[footnote 56] This is normally 6 years from the publication of the report. We may decide that retaining it for longer is warranted for research purposes.

Incomplete inspections

175. We will apply our policy on incomplete inspections where appropriate.

Quality assurance and complaints

Quality assurance of inspection

176. All inspectors are responsible for the quality of their work. The lead inspector must ensure that inspections are carried out in accordance with the principles of inspection and the code of conduct (set out in the EIF).

177. We monitor the quality of inspections through a range of formal processes. Senior HMI or HMI may visit some providers or monitor remotely to quality assure inspections. We may also evaluate the quality of an inspection evidence base. The lead inspector will be responsible for feeding back to the team inspectors about the quality of their work and their conduct.

178. All providers are invited to take part in a voluntary post-inspection survey in order to contribute to inspection development. The link to this survey is included with the final inspection report to the provider.

Handling concerns and complaints

179. The great majority of Ofsted's work is carried out smoothly and without incident. If concerns do arise during an inspection visit, they should be raised with the lead inspector as soon as possible in order to resolve issues before the inspection is completed. The lead inspector should seek advice where necessary. Inspectors should note any concerns raised, and actions taken, in the inspection evidence.

180. If it is not possible to resolve concerns during the inspection, or through submitting comments in response to the draft report, the provider may wish to lodge a formal complaint. The lead inspector should ensure that the provider is informed of the procedures for making a formal complaint and that information about how to complain is available on GOV.UK.

Short inspections

181. Many of the providers graded good for overall effectiveness at their previous inspection and that fall within the categories set out in paragraph 39 will receive a short inspection (see paragraph 36). Providers graded outstanding for overall effectiveness at their previous inspection that took place on or after 1 September 2015 and that do not fall in the categories set out in paragraphs 31 and 32 will usually receive an initial short inspection by September 2025 (see paragraph 31 to 34).

182. A short inspection will determine primarily whether the quality of education/training that learners receive is good (for good providers) or outstanding (for outstanding providers). Inspectors will consider the provider's quality of education and/or training and the effectiveness of leadership and management. They will assess whether safeguarding arrangements are effective and if learners benefit from good-quality careers advice and guidance. Short inspections may also cover any areas particular to a provider that the lead inspector judges necessary.

183. In order to confirm whether the provider remains good/outstanding (as applicable), inspectors will use the criteria set out in part 2 of this handbook. They will not be expected to carry out a full inspection within a reduced timeframe but to arrive at sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the provider remains good/outstanding (as applicable) overall.

184. A short inspection report will not give graded judgements for provision types. It will not change the provider's overall effectiveness grade.

185. Ofsted reserves the right to carry out a full inspection to any provider at any reasonable time.

186. As with all other inspections under the EIF, the model of short inspections is designed to encourage constructive, challenging professional conversation between inspectors, leaders, managers and governors.

The purpose of a short inspection

187. The main purpose of short inspections is to evaluate sufficiently whether the provider remains good (if currently a good provider) or, outstanding (if currently an outstanding provider) and in particular:

whether the provider's quality of education/training remains good or outstanding

whether safeguarding arrangements are effective

whether leaders, managers and governors have the capacity to make continued improvement and manage change well

188. A short inspection will also take into account: any other aspect that the lead inspector considers particularly relevant given the findings of the previous inspection report; issues identified at the planning stage; and the particular nature of the provider.

189. Inspectors will focus primarily on the quality of education during a short inspection. They will not expect to cover the criteria within the quality of education judgement in part 2 of this handbook to the same extent as on a full inspection. They will focus on a number of key curriculum areas using deep-dive focused curriculum reviews to provide sufficient evidence that the provider remains good. This will follow the same approach as set out in the sections above: 'gathering and recording evidence', 'observations of teaching and training', 'work scrutiny' and 'use of data'.

190. A short inspection will be carried out by one or more inspectors over 1 or 2 days, depending on the size and type of provider.[footnote 58]

Outcomes of a short inspection

191. A short inspection has 3 possible outcomes.

Outcome 1 - the provider continues to be good/outstanding (as applicable). In these cases, it will receive a short inspection report following the report publication process.

Outcome 2 - a currently good provider continues to be at least good and there is sufficient evidence of improvement to suggest that it may be judged outstanding. In these cases, the short inspection will be extended to a full inspection.

Outcome 3 - the inspection team has insufficient evidence to satisfy itself that the provider remains good/outstanding (as applicable), or there are concerns arising from evidence gathered that the provider may not remain good/outstanding (as applicable). In these cases, the short inspection will be extended to a full inspection. This will usually be completed within 15 working days of the short inspection (see paragraph 187 below).

192. Inspectors will always report on whether safeguarding is effective. If safeguarding is not effective, inspectors will extend the short inspection to a full inspection.

Providers that remain good/outstanding (as applicable) (outcome 1)

193. If inspectors judge that a provider remains good/outstanding (as applicable) (outcome 1), they will confirm this judgement in the final feedback at the end of the short inspection.

Extending short inspections to full inspections (outcomes 2 and 3)

194. The short inspection will be extended to a full inspection if:

195. In the cases of outcomes 2 or 3, the lead inspector will inform the provider by the end of the short inspection of the decision to extend the inspection to a full inspection.

196. For outcomes 2 and 3, the short inspection will be extended to a full inspection as soon as possible. This will usually be completed within 15 working days of the short inspection. More inspectors may join the lead inspector on site. This may include HMI and/or OIs. The inspection team will gather and evaluate evidence to make a full set of graded judgements against the EIF. The lead inspector from the short inspection will usually continue the full inspection.

197. A decision to extend the inspection does not predetermine the outcome of the full inspection. At the end of the full inspection, the provider may receive any grade on the 4-point grading scale.

198. The lead inspector of the full inspection will contact the nominee and tell them when the full inspection will start. The lead inspector will share the team composition and deployment. The inspector may request further evidence and information for planning before the on-site stage of the inspection begins.

199. Between the end of the short inspection and the beginning of the full inspection following extension, evidence from the short inspection will be shared with the new team. The lead inspector and that team will build on the evidence to complete the full inspection, avoiding repetition or duplication.

200. The full inspection may move straight to evidence gathering, without an initial team meeting.

201. A short inspection report will not be produced when the short inspection extends to a full inspection. Instead, the provider will receive a full inspection report.

Inspectors' planning and preparation

202. The lead inspector will share with the inspection team:

Notification and introduction

203. We will normally notify the provider up to 2 working days before the inspection, unless the inspection is unannounced. Ofsted reserves the right to carry out unannounced inspections or visits. We will notify the provider in the morning of the notification day and will email the notification letter. The lead inspector will then contact the provider as soon as possible.

204. Leaders, managers and governors are not required to prepare documents or other materials for inspection. Inspectors will review documents and other materials that leaders, staff and governors use for normal day-to-day business. Any assessment should be part of the provider's usual evaluation work and not generated solely for inspection purposes. Inspectors will use what the provider has.

205. During the initial telephone call to a provider selected for short inspection, the lead inspector will:

206. Inspectors may also request further information during the initial telephone call, by subsequent email or at the first opportunity on site. This information may include:

information about learners, their types of provision, courses/programmes, subject areas and locations

timetables for lessons/sessions/workshops or other learning activities

a list of provider staff and/or a diagram of the organisational structure and key staff contact information

the current self-assessment report or equivalent and any evaluation of the impact of actions taken to date

recent data on learners' outcomes, performance, progress and destinations (but note paragraph 153 above about internal progress and attainment data on GCSE and A-level courses where fixed-time terminal examinations comprise the entire assessment of the course)

lists of employers and subcontractors and their locations

207. Requests for a deferral will be handled in accordance with Ofsted's deferral policy.

Feedback at the end of a short inspection

208. The lead inspector will give oral feedback at the end of the short inspection. The lead inspector is responsible for managing this meeting and agreeing attendance with the nominee.

209. The lead inspector will state one of the following:

210. The lead inspector will also make clear whether the provider's safeguarding arrangements are judged to be effective and provide feedback on other relevant areas covered in the short inspection (as outlined in paragraph 187).

Reporting on the short inspection

211. If the quality of provision remains good/outstanding (as applicable), the provider will receive a short inspection report setting out the inspection findings. These will include statements that the provider remains good/outstanding, a judgement on whether safeguarding arrangements are effective, and a summary of what the provider does well and what it can do better. If the short inspection is extended to become a full inspection, the provider will receive a full inspection report as outlined above and not a short inspection report.

Quality assurance and publication of the short inspection report

212. The short inspection report will be published on our website. Quality assurance and publication processes are the same as those for full inspection reports ( see paragraphs 170 to 180).

Part 2. The evaluation schedule: how further education and skills providers will be judged

Background to the evaluation schedule

213. Inspectors must use the evaluation schedule alongside the guidance set out in part 1 of this handbook and the EIF.

214. The evaluation schedule is not exhaustive. It does not replace the professional judgement of inspectors. Inspectors must interpret grade descriptors in relation to the type(s) of provision inspected and context of the provider.

215. In line with the EIF, inspectors will make judgements on the following areas:

216. We have created the criteria for each of these judgements using inspection experience, areas of consensus in academic research and our own research. You can find a full note of how the judgement criteria relate to the available research in our commentary (see 'Education inspection framework: overview of research').

217. Inspectors use the following 4-point scale to make all judgements, including, where applicable, on the effectiveness of the different types of provision offered:

The evaluation schedule and grade descriptors

Overall effectiveness

218. Inspectors must use all their evidence to evaluate what it is like to be a learner at the provider. In making their judgements about a provider's overall effectiveness, inspectors will consider whether the quality of provision is good or whether it exceeds good and is therefore outstanding. If it is not good, inspectors will consider whether it requires improvement or is inadequate. A provider will be inadequate under a particular judgement if one or more of the inadequate criteria apply, unless the inadequate criteria apply solely due to the impact of COVID-19.

219. In judging the overall effectiveness, inspectors will take account of:

220. Inspectors will first judge the overall effectiveness of each type of provision inspected. To do this, they will apply the grading criteria set out in the EIF. The section 'Evaluating types of provision' in this handbook sets out how inspectors will evaluate the overall effectiveness of each type of provision. The inspection report will include a numerical grade for each type of provision inspected. Inspectors will then grade the 4 key judgements. Where there are differences in grades given for a type of provision, inspectors will consider the following when awarding the grade for overall effectiveness:

221. Inspectors will always make a written judgement about the effectiveness of the arrangements for safeguarding learners.

222. Before making the final judgement on overall effectiveness, inspectors must evaluate the extent to which the education and training provided meets the needs of all learners. This includes learners with SEND and those who have high needs.

Grade descriptors for overall effectiveness

223. To judge whether a provider is good, requires improvement or is inadequate, inspectors will use a 'best fit' approach, relying on the professional judgement of the inspection team.

Requires improvement (3)

Inadequate (4)

The judgement on the overall effectiveness is likely to be inadequate when any one of the key judgements is inadequate and/or safeguarding is ineffective.

Evaluating types of provision

224. The following section outlines what inspectors will look for to demonstrate how the grade descriptors for each key judgement apply to each type of provision.

Education programmes for young people

225. To achieve comparability with the way in which we inspect and judge 16 to 19 provision in schools and academies under the EIF, the considerations below align with those in the school inspection handbook.

226. Inspectors will review provision for learners aged 14 to 16 enrolled full time at a college and provision for learners on traineeships aged 16 to 19 as part of this judgement.

Inspectors will consider how well leaders and teachers promote high expectations for achievement and progress through the systems they use to monitor and develop the quality of provision for learners, including the most disadvantaged, those with SEND and those with high needs.

Inspectors will review how well high-quality impartial careers guidance enables learners to make progress and move on to a higher level of qualification, employment, further training or independent living when they are ready to do so.

Inspectors will use observations of teaching and training activities, and discussions with learners, teachers, support staff and, where relevant, employers, to consider how well learners develop personal, social and independent learning skills.

Inspectors will judge how well learners achieve high levels of punctuality and attendance and how well learners' conduct and attitudes, including in non-qualification or enrichment activities and/or work experience, prepare them for employment or to progress to higher levels of study and/or independence.

Inspectors will also consider whether arrangements for safeguarding learners are appropriate and effective.

Adult learning programmes

227. Adult learning comprises a rich variety of learning and training, such as programmes for those with SEND, vocational training, employability training and community learning.

Inspectors will judge, where appropriate, how well the curriculum, including the wider curriculum, for each strand of a provider's adult learning programme has a clearly defined purpose that is relevant to the education and training needs and interests of learners, and to local employment opportunities, and supports local and national priorities.

Inspectors will judge how effectively leaders, managers and governors focus public funding on people who are disadvantaged and least likely to participate in education and training, and work with other partners to widen participation and support learners' progression to further learning and/or employment relevant to their personal circumstances.

Inspectors will assess how well leaders and managers use community learning funding to develop learning programmes and projects that develop stronger communities, where appropriate.

Inspectors will judge how effectively staff work with learners, employers and other partners such as Jobcentre Plus, to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment enable learners to develop personal, social and employability skills that prepare them well for their intended job role, career aims and/or personal goals.

Where appropriate, inspectors will judge how well providers record and recognise learners' progress and achievements to inform teaching and support programmes to help learners reach their goals.

Inspectors will also consider whether arrangements for safeguarding young people and vulnerable learners are appropriate and effective.

Apprenticeships

228. Inspectors will consider how well leaders and managers ensure that the apprenticeship curriculum meets the principles and requirements of an apprenticeship.[footnote 60]

Evidence will include the extent to which the provider's staff engage with employers to:

complete the apprenticeship commitment statement

plan the initial assessment, training, assessments, review points and milestones throughout

agree any additional qualifications to be included

monitor and support apprentices, including those with SEND and those who have high needs, to progress quickly, gain new knowledge, skills and behaviours and achieve to their full potential.

Inspectors will judge how well trainers, assessors, coaches and mentors communicate up-to-date vocational and technical subject knowledge that reflects expected industry practice and meets employers' needs.

Inspectors will determine whether apprentices acquire that knowledge effectively so that they demonstrate the required skills and behaviours that enable them to complete their apprenticeships, contribute to their workplace and fulfil their career aims by progressing to their intended job roles or other sustained employment, promotion or, where appropriate, moving to a higher level of apprenticeship or qualification.

Inspectors will also consider whether arrangements for safeguarding young people and vulnerable learners are appropriate and effective.

Provision for learners with high needs

229. Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 explains the current arrangements for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The Act aims to encourage education, health and social care services to work together. Local authorities must describe the provision available to young people in the area by publicising the 'local offer'. A young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she has:

230. Inspectors will consider the extent to which leaders, managers and governors use the funding for learners with high needs so that their individual learning programmes challenge learners to: develop their independence; improve their communication skills; make relevant personal choices and decisions; and prepare themselves for adult life.

The quality of education

231. Inspectors will take a rounded view of the quality of education that a provider delivers to its learners.[footnote 61] They will consider:

Intent

232. In evaluating the provider's educational intent, inspectors will primarily consider the curriculum leadership provided by senior and subject leaders.

233. The evaluation focuses on factors that contribute to learners receiving education and training that enables them to achieve highly. These factors are listed below.

Leaders and managers have selected and developed a curriculum that develops the knowledge, skills and behaviours that learners need in order to take advantage of the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences that prepare them for their next stage in education, training or employment. In this way, it can powerfully address social disadvantage.

It is clear what the curriculum is preparing learners for. It is also clear what learners will need to be able to know and do at the end of their learning or training programmes.

Leaders, managers and teachers have planned and sequenced the curriculum so that learners can build on previous teaching and learning and develop the new knowledge and skills they need.

The curriculum offers learners the knowledge and skills that reflect the needs of the local and regional context.

The curriculum intent takes into account the needs of learners, employers, and the local, regional and national economy, as necessary. Curriculum planning takes account of delays and gaps that arise as a result of the pandemic.

The curriculum ensures that all learners benefit from high academic, technical and vocational ambitions. This means that the curriculum should be ambitious for disadvantaged learners or those with SEND, including those who have high needs, and should meet those needs.

The curriculum

234. The curriculum sets out the aims of a programme of education and training. It also sets out the structure for those aims to be implemented, including the knowledge, skills and behaviours to be gained at each stage. It enables the evaluation of learners' knowledge and understanding against those expectations.

235. We will judge providers taking radically different approaches to the curriculum fairly. We recognise the importance of providers' autonomy to choose their own curriculum approaches. If leaders are able to show that they have thought carefully, that they have built a curriculum with appropriate coverage, content, structure and sequencing, and that it has been implemented effectively, then inspectors will assess a provider's curriculum favourably.

Sources of evidence specific to curriculum intent

236. Inspectors will draw evidence about leaders' intent for the curriculum principally from discussion with senior and subject leaders. Inspectors will explore:

237. Inspectors will also consider any documentary evidence that leaders wish to provide in the format that the provider normally uses. Inspectors will not request materials to be produced or provided in any specific format for inspection.

Implementation

238. In evaluating the implementation of the curriculum, inspectors will focus on how the curriculum is taught at subject, class, lecture or workshop level.[footnote 62]

239. We will focus on the following factors.

The use of assessment

240. When used effectively, assessment can help learners to embed and use knowledge fluently and to show that they are competent in applying their skills. The results of effective assessment assist teachers to produce clear and achievable next steps for learners. However, assessment is too often carried out in a way that creates unnecessary burdens for staff and learners. It is therefore important that leaders and teachers understand its limitations and avoid misuse and overuse.

241. Inspectors will evaluate how assessment supports the teaching of the curriculum, while not driving teachers towards excessive individualisation, differentiation or interventions that are almost impossible to deliver without lowering expectations of some learners and/or driving up teachers' workload. This will include considering how the provider responds to any learning gaps that have arisen as a result of the pandemic.

Sources of evidence specific to curriculum implementation

242. The following activities will provide inspectors with evidence about the provider's implementation of its intended curriculum:

discussions with subject specialists, subject leaders and teachers about:

the curriculum that learners follow

the intended end points towards which those learners are working

their view of how those learners are progressing through the curriculum

reviews of curriculum plans or other long-term planning (in whatever form teachers and/or subject leaders usually produce and use them)

visits to classes, lectures, workshops and other activities, including observations of teaching and training

scrutinising work produced by learners

interviews with learners

discussions with teachers about how often they are expected to record, upload and review data

discussions with subject specialists and leaders about the content and pedagogical content knowledge of teachers, and what is done to support teachers, including with remote teaching

discussions with staff, including specialist staff, who support learners in developing their knowledge, skills and behaviours

where relevant, discussions with subject leaders and teachers about how the curriculum has been delivered remotely and reviews of learners' work completed remotely

243. In order to triangulate evidence effectively, inspectors will ensure that they gather a variety of these types of evidence in relation to the same sample of learners. Inspectors will also ensure that the samples of learners they choose are sufficient to allow them to reach a valid and sufficiently reliable judgement on the quality of education offered by the provider overall.

Impact

244. When inspectors evaluate the impact of the education provided by the provider, they will focus on what learners have learned, and the skills they have gained and can apply.

245. Inspectors will focus on the following factors.

A well-constructed, well-taught curriculum will lead to learners learning more and so achieving good results. There need be no conflict between teaching a broad, rich curriculum and achieving success in examinations and tests or assessments.

Disadvantaged learners and learners with SEND acquire the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life.

End-point assessments and examinations are useful indicators of learners' outcomes, but they only represent a sample of what learners have learned. Inspectors will balance this with their first-hand assessment of learners' work.

All learning builds towards an end point. Learners are being prepared for their next stage of education, training or employment at each stage of their learning. Inspectors will consider whether learners are ready for their next steps.

Inspectors will also consider whether learners are ready for the next stage and are going to appropriate, high-quality destinations.

Sources of evidence specific to curriculum impact

246. Inspectors will gather evidence of the impact of the education offered by the provider from the following sources:

nationally generated and validated performance information about learners' progress and attainment, where it is available in published national data

first-hand evidence of the progress learners are making, drawing together the evidence from the interviews, observations, work scrutiny and documentary review, described above (see 'sources of evidence specific to curriculum implementation')

any information provided by the provider about the destinations to which their learners progress when they leave the provider

telephone conversations or other similar discussions with a selection of learners about their destinations

discussions with learners, for instance about what they have remembered about the knowledge and skills they have acquired and how their learning enables them to connect ideas

247. Inspectors will evaluate learners' progress in relation to their starting points, based on their rate of learning, acquisition of knowledge, skills and behaviours and whether they have achieved their individual, challenging learning goals.

248. Inspectors will not look at internal progress and attainment data on GCSE and A-level courses where fixed-time terminal examinations comprise the entire assessment of the course. Similarly, inspectors will not normally look at predicted in-year achievement and attainment data more generally.

249. That does not mean providers cannot use this data if they consider it appropriate. However, inspectors will put more focus on the curriculum and less on providers' generation, analysis and interpretation of performance data. Inspectors will be interested in the conclusions drawn and actions taken from any internal assessment information, but they will not examine or verify that information first hand.

Balancing intent, implementation and impact to reach a quality of education judgement

250. Inspectors will not grade intent, implementation and impact separately. Instead, inspectors will reach a single graded judgement for the quality of education and training, drawing on all the evidence they have gathered and using their professional judgement.

Grade descriptors for quality of education

251. For the quality of education provided to be judged outstanding, it must meet the following criteria.

Outstanding (1)

In addition, the following apply.
Intent

The provider's curriculum intent is strong. Throughout the provider and its subcontractors, teachers have a firm and common understanding of the intended curriculum and what it means for their practice.
Implementation Impact
252. To judge whether the quality of education is good, requires improvement or is inadequate, inspectors will use a 'best fit' approach, relying on the professional judgement of the inspection team.

253. Note: Some sections of the criteria appear in [square brackets] below. This is to mark that they are transitional only, because we recognise that not all providers will have had the opportunity to complete the process of taking up or constructing their curriculum fully. We intend to review whether these transitional arrangements are still needed in time for September 2022.

Good (2)
Intent Implementation
Any remote education is well integrated into the programme of education/training, and is well designed to support the wider implementation of the provider's curriculum.
Impact

Learners develop detailed knowledge across the curriculum and, as a result, achieve well across all areas of their study. Learners make substantial and sustained progress from their identified and recorded starting points in each of their courses and, where applicable, across the curriculum. Where appropriate and available, impact is reflected in results from national examinations, which meet government expectations, or in the qualifications or apprenticeship standards obtained (see paragraphs 153 to 155).

Learners are ready for the next stage of education, employment or training. They have gained qualifications or have met the standards to go on to destinations that meet their interests and aspirations and the goal of their course of study. Learners with SEND/high needs have greater independence in making decisions about their lives.

Requires improvement (3)

The quality of education is not yet good.

Inadequate (4)

The quality of education is likely to be inadequate if any one of the following applies (unless they apply solely due to the impact of COVID-19):

Behaviour and attitudes

254. This judgement considers how leaders and staff create a safe, disciplined and positive environment within the provider and the impact this has on the behaviour and attitudes of learners.

255. The judgement focuses on the factors that research and inspection evidence indicate contribute most strongly to learners' positive behaviour and attitudes, thereby giving them the greatest possible opportunity to achieve positive outcomes. These factors are:

A calm and orderly environment in the provider, classroom, workshop and workplace, as this is essential for learners to be able to learn.

The setting of clear expectations for behaviour across all aspects of provider life, including at work.

A strong focus on attendance at and punctuality to learning and work settings to minimise disruption, and so that learners gain valuable employability skills.

Learner motivation and positive attitudes to learning are important predictors of attainment.

A positive and respectful provider culture in which staff know and care about learners.

Learners with particular needs

256. The provider may be working with learners with particular needs to improve their behaviour or their attendance. When this is the case, 'behaviour and conduct that reflect the provider's high expectations and their consistent, fair implementation' are likely to indicate improvement in the attendance, punctuality and conduct of these learners. In the case of some groups of learners, COVID-19 may have affected their transition to further education. This may demonstrate itself in attitudes to learning or work that are not yet in keeping with the provider's high expectations.

257. Some learners, or groups of learners, who have particular needs may have weak attendance or display challenging behaviour. When this is the case, inspectors will evaluate the impact of the provider's high expectations, the consistent, fair implementation of policies, the support given by the provider to the learners, and the impact on the marked and sustained improvement of the attendance and behaviour of these learners.

Sources of evidence specific to behaviour and attitudes

258. Inspectors will use evidence gathered during the inspection as well as evidence of trends in learners' behaviour and attitudes over time. Inspectors will use first-hand evidence from visits to learning sessions and training workshops, including visits to learners at work or on work placements. Inspectors will also gather evidence from interviews with learners, staff, employers and other partners, for which documents such as attendance registers may also be used.

259. Inspectors' judgements about learners' behaviour and attitudes are concerned with their attitudes to learning and, where appropriate, to work, and the development of the skills relevant to their learning programme. Inspectors' judgements also take account of learners' ability to demonstrate appropriate behaviour for the learning and work environments. Inspectors will consider the main purpose of the type of provision when they prioritise the impact that each of the criteria has on learners' behaviour and attitudes.

260. The learner and staff surveys used in inspection contain questions about safeguarding, how respondents feel about the provider and how well supported and respected they feel in the provider.

261. Inspectors will carry out other evidence-gathering activities that include, but are not limited to:

Grade descriptors for behaviour and attitudes

262. For the behaviour and attitudes of a provider to be judged outstanding, it must meet the following criteria:

Outstanding (1)

In addition, the following apply.

263. To judge whether behaviour and attitudes are good, requires improvement or are inadequate, inspectors will use a 'best fit' approach, relying on the professional judgement of the inspection team.

Requires improvement (3)

Inadequate (4)

Behaviour and attitudes are likely to be inadequate if any one of the following applies.

Learners' lack of engagement, motivation or enthusiasm inhibits their progress and development.

A significant minority of learners show a lack of respect and self-discipline. Learners ignore or rebut requests to moderate their conduct and are not ready to move on to their next stage or the world of work.

Learners' attendance is consistently low and shows little sign of sustained improvement.

Incidents of bullying, harassment or prejudiced and discriminatory behaviour, both direct and indirect, are frequent.

Learners have little confidence in the provider's ability to tackle bullying, harassment or discrimination successfully.

Learners are not safe, or do not feel safe, at the provider or at work or subcontractor settings.

Personal development

264. The curriculum should support learners to develop their knowledge and skills beyond the purely academic, technical or vocational. This judgement evaluates the provider's intent to provide for the personal development of learners, and the quality of the way in which it does this.

265. As the provider is working with learners, those learners are also being influenced by other factors in their home environment, their community and elsewhere. Providers can teach and train learners how to build their confidence and resilience, for example, but they cannot determine how well young people and adult learners draw on this. Similarly, providers cannot make their learners active, engaged citizens, but they can help them understand how to engage with society and provide them with plentiful opportunities to do so. Providers can take effective action to prepare learners for many aspects of life, but the impact of this work may not be seen until many years later. In this judgement, therefore, inspectors will seek to evaluate the quality and intent of what a provider offers and will look to see what learners know but will not attempt to measure the impact of the provider's work on the lives of individual learners. Where the usual opportunities have been disrupted by the pandemic, the provider has found alternative approaches to providing a rich range of personal development opportunities.

266. The judgement focuses on the most significant dimensions of the personal development of learners that our education system has agreed, either by consensus or statute, are the most significant:

267. These aspects of personal development will be considered in an age-appropriate way within the context of the provider and its learners.

Sources of evidence specific to personal development

268. To inform this judgement, inspectors will use evidence gathered during the inspection and evidence of trends in learners' personal development over time. Inspectors will use first-hand evidence from visits to learning sessions and training workshops, including visits to learners at work or on work placements. Inspectors will gather evidence from interviews with learners, staff, employers and other partners. Evidence will also include information provided through learner, employer and parent questionnaires. Inspectors will use a range of evidence to evaluate personal development, including:

Grade descriptors for personal development

269. For personal development to be judged outstanding, it must meet the following criteria.

Outstanding (1)

In addition, the following apply.

270. To judge whether personal development is good, requires improvement or is inadequate, inspectors will use a 'best fit' approach, relying on the professional judgement of the inspection team.

Requires improvement (3)

Personal development is not yet good.

Inadequate (4)

Personal development is likely to be inadequate if any one of the following applies.

A significant minority of learners do not understand how and why to live healthy, positive lives.

Leaders and those responsible for governance, through their words, actions or influence, directly and/or indirectly, undermine or fail to promote equality of opportunity.

Leaders and those responsible for governance do not protect learners from radicalisation and extremist views when learners are vulnerable to these. Policy and practice are poor, which means that learners are at risk.

Leadership and management

271. Inspectors will look at the work of principals, chief executives, senior leaders, deans, heads of apprenticeships, subject leaders and others with leadership and management roles when reaching this judgement.[footnote 65]

272. This judgement is about how leaders, managers and those responsible for governance ensure that the education and training delivered by the provider have a positive impact on all learners, including those with SEND and those who have high needs. It focuses on the areas in which inspection evidence and research show that leaders and managers can have the strongest impact on the quality of education and training provided. Important factors include:

Governance

273. Inspectors will seek evidence of the impact of those responsible for governance. They will determine whether they provide confident, strategic leadership and create strong accountability for, and oversight and assurance of, educational performance to ensure continuous and sustainable improvement.

274. Inspectors should consider whether those responsible for governance:

275. Inspectors will satisfy themselves that those responsible for governance understand their responsibilities and are ensuring that these are carried out appropriately within the provider. They are not expected to review a list of duties with inspectors.

College groups and governance arrangements

276. Many providers cooperate as groups, with an overall board and chief executive officer, or similar arrangement. These assume some or all of the responsibilities formerly shouldered by the individual college's/provider's governing body. In these providers, inspectors will seek evidence of the impact of the overall board and its staff as well as the college's/provider's local board, committee or governing body, to which there are relevant delegated responsibilities.

Safeguarding

277. All providers should have a culture of safeguarding. This means they should have effective arrangements to:

identify children and learners who may need early help, and who are at risk of harm or have been harmed. This can include, but is not limited to, neglect, abuse (including by their peers), grooming or exploitation

secure the help that children and learners need and, if required, refer concerns in a timely way to those who have the expertise to help

ensure safe recruitment and manage ongoing compliance and allegations about adults who may be a risk to children and vulnerable adults

278. Inspectors will always take into account how well providers help and protect young people and learners so that they are kept safe, including when learning remotely.[footnote 67] Inspectors evaluate the safeguarding culture that has been established by the provider. Although inspectors will not provide a separate numerical grade for this, they will always make a written judgement in the leadership and management section of the inspection report about whether the arrangements for safeguarding young people and learners are effective.

279. If safeguarding is ineffective, this is likely to lead to a judgement of inadequate leadership and management. The following are examples of what ineffective safeguarding might include:

280. However, there may be circumstances when it is appropriate to judge a provider as requires improvement, rather than inadequate, when there are minor weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements that are easy to put right. We will assess safeguarding arrangements in an age-appropriate way, taking account of the age and vulnerability of the learners involved.

281. 'Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings' sets out the approach inspectors should take to inspecting safeguarding in providers covered by the EIF. This should be read alongside the framework and this handbook.

282. In addition, inspectors should be familiar with relevant, including statutory, guidance on safeguarding:

283. Inspectors will consider to how leaders and managers adapted approaches to safeguarding during the pandemic to make sure that:

Inspectors will discuss how safeguarding arrangements have changed over time due to the pandemic, and how leaders and managers have made sure that they remain effective.

Sexual harassment and violence and online sexual abuse between learners who are children or young people

284. As part of assessing safeguarding, inspectors will consider how colleges and providers[footnote 68] that have learners who are children[footnote 69] handle concerns about harmful sexual behaviour towards or between learners who are children and young people (including sexual harassment and violence and online sexual abuse). This includes considering whether the college or provider has followed the relevant DfE guidance about peer-on-peer abuse between children, and whether:[footnote 70]

the provider has appropriate provider-wide policies and procedures in place that make it clear that all harmful sexual behaviour is unacceptable and that assume that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening in the provision, even when there are no specific reports

all staff are clear as to the provider's relevant policy and procedures, and this is supported by relevant training

all learners are supported to report concerns about sexual harassment and violence and online sexual abuse

concerns are taken seriously and dealt with swiftly and appropriately, and learners are confident that this is case

comprehensive records of concerns are kept

the provider has taken into account the findings and recommendations of Ofsted's review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges

285. Inspectors will also look at how providers work to prevent sexual harassment and violence and online sexual abuse between learners using a whole-provider approach that includes an effective behaviour policy, pastoral support and a carefully planned curriculum with respect to relationship and sex education. Inspectors will expect providers to be alert to factors that increase the vulnerability or potential vulnerability of learners, such as mental ill health, domestic abuse, children with additional needs, and learners from groups at greater risk of harm (including vulnerable adults). Inspectors will also seek to understand how any barriers that could prevent a learner from making a disclosure, for example communication needs, are identified and addressed.

286. As set out in 'Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings' inspectors will expect, among other things, providers to:

understand how to handle reports of harmful sexual behaviour

between learners, both on and outside college or provider premises, in line with the DfE's guidance on sexual violence and sexual harassment, and train their staff accordingly

have good awareness of the signs that a child/young person who is a learner is being neglected or abused, as described in 'What to do if you're worried a child is being abused'

be confident about what to do if a learner reports that they have experienced sexual harassment, online sexual abuse or sexual violence involving another learner

ensure that learners are taught about safeguarding risks, including online risks

287. Inspectors will not investigate concerns of sexual harassment and violence and online sexual abuse themselves, but will ensure that allegations are reported to the appropriate authority as appropriate, where that has not already happened.

288. Where providers do not have effective policies and processes in place, it is likely that safeguarding will be considered ineffective. This is likely to impact on the leadership and management judgement. We will assess these arrangements in an age-appropriate way, taking account of the age and vulnerability of the learners involved. Inspectors may also, depending on the circumstances, take this evidence into account when considering the behaviour and attitude and personal development judgements (particularly in respect of learners feeling safe and pastoral support respectively).

Sources of evidence specific to leadership and management

289. Inspectors will gather a range of evidence from meetings with leaders, managers and governors and first-hand evidence of their work across the provider, including in subcontracted provision.

290. Inspectors will use documentary evidence that the provider supplies to evaluate the impact of the work of leaders, managers and governors, both currently and over time. They will use this in conjunction with first-hand evidence. This includes, but is not limited to:

Grade descriptors for leadership and management

291. For the leadership and management of a provider to be judged outstanding, it must meet the following criteria.

Outstanding (1)

In addition, the following apply.

292. To judge whether leadership and management are good, requires improvement or inadequate, inspectors will use a 'best fit' approach, relying on the professional judgement of the inspection team.

Requires improvement (3)

Inadequate (4)

Leadership and management are likely to be inadequate if any one of the following applies:

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This guidance applies from 1 September 2021. 1. This handbook describes the main activities that inspectors carry out when they inspect further education and skills providers in England under part 8 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. It sets out the evaluation criteria that inspectors use to make their judgements and on which they report.

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Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges

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AVA Safe and Equal: A Guide on Young People and Meaningful Participation for the Violence Against Women and Girls Sector

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