Bullying: calls for national inquiry

A national inquiry into the scale of bullying should be undertaken by ministers because of fears that the problem is being downplayed by schools seeking to protect their reputations, a report demands today. New guidance is also needed to ensure that victims who dare to fight back are not suspended or expelled.

A report from the Commons education select committee singles out Catholic schools, which, it says, should be forced to make public their commitment to stop gay pupils being bullied. The Catholic church has refused to follow government guidelines urging schools to set up specific policies against homophobic bullying. The MPs also raise concerns over what is being done to tackle cyber-bullying, with studies showing it is on the rise.

The committee says schools should be forced to record all instances of bullying, including detailing those related to race, faith, disability or homophobia. The lack of reliable data is a barrier to more effective anti-bullying work, say the MPs, who want the government to commission long-term research into trends and evidence of which approaches worked.

Though some experts have argued that bullying is decreasing, the telephone counselling service ChildLine said last night that it had received 37,000 calls about bullying in 2005-6, 12% up on the previous year.

Schools are required by law to have an anti-bullying policy, which Ofsted, the school inspectorate, is expected to monitor. But the select committee fears schools might be trying to avoid damaging their reputations by not collating figures; it says some anti-bullying programmes involve a "no blame" approach specifically stating that incidents should not be recorded.

The MPs condemn schools which exclude the victims of bullies for "health and safety" reasons, while failing to tackle the initial problem. Excluding children, even the bullies, should be used as a punishment only with caution, they say.

The MPs' demand for schools to detail types of bullying conflicts with the policy of the Catholic Education Service, but the committee says this must be challenged. "Unless specific forms of bullying are explicitly included in anti-bullying policies, there is a danger they will not be adequately addressed," the report says.

The criticisms come despite rising awareness of the problem, increasing government guidance and support and funds for anti-bullying campaigns.

Barry Sheerman, the Labour chairman of the committee, said any idea that bullying was "character-building and simply part of childhood" had to be challenged. The committee recognised that some bullying behaviour was influenced by attitudes and behaviour outside school, including "happy slapping".

Government advice says that bullying includes name-calling, taunting, mocking, making offensive comments, kicking, hitting, pushing, taking belongings and "inappropriate text messaging and emailing" or sending offensive or degrading images by phone or internet. But the MPs called for additional guidance on "difficult issues" such as the use of homophobic language and subtle forms of bullying.

The committee was told that about 10-20% of young people had experienced general bullying, while that might rise to 30-50% among secondary school pupils who were attracted to the same sex. The Department for Education and Skills is to announce stronger legal powers to combat bullying next week, including the right to confiscate mobile phones and use force to break up fights or restrain violent pupils. New parenting orders will mean parents have to take action over their children's behaviour or face fines.