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Education and Inspections Bill

I shall make an unusual intervention in that I find myself in sympathy with what has been said by the Conservative Front Bench. I cannot say how strongly I support the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, in her intention. Homophobic bullying is nasty, sinister, and cruel and can have terrible results. Of that there is no doubt. But I strongly believe that we should all be concerned about the strategic issue of bullying, because bullying of vulnerable children of different sorts, as the noble Baroness stated so well at the end of her remarks, is unacceptable and can do terrible damage. Her argument was persuasive in so far as she was saying that homophobic bullying was not getting the same level of attention as other forms of bullying. I wonder whether she should not consider withdrawing her amendment and coming back with one that emphasises again the strategic issue of bullying and illustrates different aspects of bullying, including the iniquitous nature of homophobic bullying. If we take that approach we will not inadvertently accentuate the problem.