New legislation will keep children safe but no smacking ban, says Phillipson

Proposals on children’s safety have been described as “landmark” legislation by the Education Secretary although she said a smacking ban is not part of the plans.

Bridget Phillipson said too many children have been “failed” by the state in recent years, as she described the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill as something which will “seek to keep children safe”.

The Bill’s introduction in the House of Commons on Tuesday comes on the same day 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s killers are sentenced, in a case which has raised questions over safeguards around home-schooling.

Sara, whose battered body was discovered at her family home in Woking, Surrey, in August last year, had been pulled out of school by her family in the last months of her life, despite teachers having noticed marks on her face and referred her to social services.

The case – which last week saw her father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, convicted of her murder, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, of causing or allowing her death – prompted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to say there were “questions that need to be answered” on protections for children.

Sharif claimed in a call to police after fleeing England for Pakistan that he “did legally punish” his daughter and that he “beat her up too much”.

Asked about the case and whether smacking would be banned as part of the Bill, Ms Phillipson told Times Radio: “I think we are dealing with someone who committed unspeakable brutality against his own daughter, ultimately killing her.

“So I think I’m slightly concerned about taking at face value what he would say about the justifications that he offered during that trial. But the wider point in terms of reasonable chastisement, of course, we will always look at these areas but we do not have any plans to legislate.”

Campaigners have long called for an end to the legal defence of “reasonable chastisement” in England set out in the Children’s Act of 2004.

Wales made any type of corporal punishment, including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking, illegal in March 2022 while Scotland introduced a similar ban in November 2020.

Ms Phillipson told LBC she will “listen carefully” to what charities have to say on the issue, but added: “We’re not intending to legislate around this.”

Changes due to be introduced in the Bill include parents no longer having an automatic right to take their children out of school for home education if the young person is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan – meaning the child is suspected of being at risk of significant harm.

The proposed legislation will also give local authorities power to intervene and require school attendance for any child if the home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe.

Other aspects will include new registers to identify children not in school, and a measure giving children a unique identifier number – akin to a national insurance number – in a bid to ensure issues can be tracked and shared across services “preventing children from falling through the cracks”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Phillipson said the Bill is “landmark” legislation which will “seek to keep children safe”.

In a statement ahead of the Bill’s introduction to Parliament, she said:  “In recent years, too many children have been failed by their last line of defence: the state.

“This Bill will be a seminal moment for child protection. No more words, no more lessons learnt. This Government will put children first at every turn.”

The Department for Education said measures in the Bill will ensure teachers and schools are always involved in decisions around safeguarding children in their area.

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “The urgency with which this legislation is being introduced to Parliament demonstrates the importance of these issues. It lays a foundation for change in many children’s lives – many of whom have been neglected or hidden by services working in silo.

“As Children’s Commissioner I have called on successive governments to introduce a unique identifying number for children and a register of all children not in school.

“Writing these two landmark measures into law will be of huge significance for any child currently at risk of harm in this country – it must now be supported by proper data-sharing between organisations so no child can become invisible in the system.”

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the measures due to be introduced make “good sense, and frankly, cannot come soon enough”, while school leaders’ union NAHT also welcomed the Bill, saying the not-in-school register is an “important safeguarding measure…finally being taken after years of delay”.

The Government said the Bill will also see families better supported to stay together, in a bid to boost earlier intervention enabling some children to avoid having to go into the care system.

The Children’s Charities Coalition described the Bill as “promising” and having “the potential to transform how we help our most vulnerable children and families”.

But it said the doubling of the investment for Family Help services to £500 million next year aimed at enabling local authorities to support vulnerable families and protect children before, in the Government’s words, “issues escalate to tragedy” is not enough.

While the department branded it a “significant cash boost”, the coalition said: “The money announced today falls far short of what’s needed.”

The charities added: “Children and families desperately need – and deserve – sustained investment in early help services, mental health support and children’s social care. This needs to be underpinned by an ambitious strategy to tackle child poverty.”

There has also been a pledge from Government for a “backstop” law, which would limit the profit children’s social care providers can make, to be brought in if providers do not voluntarily put an end to profiteering.