The government has been told its response to a parliamentary report about sexual harassment in schools is "inadequate" by both campaigners and the committee responsible for the report, after it refused to make sex and relationship education (SRE) compulsory and refused to create a new law forcing schools to take appropriate action against sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The House of Commons women and equalities select committee issued a report on the issues in September in which it found that 29% of girls between 16 and 18 said they had experienced "unwanted sexual touching" at school, and 59% of girls and young women aged 13 to 21 had "faced some form of sexual harassment at school or college" in the past year.
The Department for Education responded to the findings of the inquiry on Tuesday, saying instead of introducing statutory measures, as recommended, it would take a "holistic school-based approach", which would be "supporting schools to produce their own new codes of practice, building our evidence base, and setting up an advisory group".
Though the department recognised that current SRE guidance needed to be updated, as it was written in 2000, the DfE refused to commit to making it compulsory, as advised by the committee, only stating that "the case for further action on PSHE [personal, social, and health education] and SRE delivery is actively under review".
In a relatively unusual development, the government's response was swiftly met with criticism from the committee, which is led by a senior Tory, Maria Miller. The committee said the response "does not do enough to ensure schools tackle this serious problem".
Miller told BuzzFeed News: "With 2 in 3 girls facing sexual harassment in schools and colleges each year we welcome the government's response to our report and their acknowledgment of its seriousness. But the voluntary measures proposed do not create the safe environment that young people should expect at school."
She went on: "The government needs to put forward measures to make age-appropriate sex and relationship education compulsory for all schoolchildren, to tackle this harmful behaviour head-on; and give schools a legal duty to have zero tolerance towards sexual harassment and violence in schools, ensuring schools are the best places of learning."
The End Violence Against Women campaign went further, with its co-director Rachel Krys saying that "the government has admitted that the guidance schools are getting is outdated and the response by schools to growing levels of sexual violence and harassment is patchy at best".
She continued: "Our children are being exposed to hardcore porn on their smartphones, the police have recorded hundreds of rapes in schools every year, and thousands of girls across the country are being exposed to extreme levels of sexual harassment, the like of which we have mostly eradicated in decent workplaces. And all the time girls are being told it's ‘just banter’. What more evidence does the government need to make it take action?
"We want Justine Greening and the government to urgently consider its response to this inquiry and commit to implementing all of the recommendations by the committee. Anything less is letting our girls down and leaving young people to handle the changing world alone."
The Girlguiding charity’s Advocate panel said: "We are among the girls and young women across the country who have been severely let down by the government’s response today.
"Girls are being sexually harassed at school every day, and this can have a devastating impact on their confidence and ability to flourish. We feel the government has missed a crucial opportunity to make schools safer for all young people, by not going far enough in their action to tackle this issue."
The women and equalities committee will be holding a follow-up inquiry next year, and education minister Justine Greening is expected to appear before it in January 2017.