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Education and Inspections Bill

Let me in turn destroy the credibility of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, by agreeing with him. He is exactly right—bullying comes in many forms. You can be bullied for being fat, thin, bright, thick, smart or not smart—anything. It does not happen just because of things that you are born with, which are inescapable, but ordinary personal characteristics and variations can make you liable to bullying. However, the noble Baroness has a strong point in that schools are traditionally bad at eradicating some forms of bullying, where the victim displays characteristics that do not fit with the spirit of the school. If a school is traditionally sporty, the shy, retiring bookworm tends to get bullied and teachers tend to turn a blind eye, because that kid is not supporting the school in the way that it believes should be the case. That can be seen in all sorts of schools, whereby if someone does not fit in with the school as a whole, teachers can be less than supportive in dealing with the bullying that that child is enduring. That must particularly be the case as regards homosexuality. It is hard to think of any school that makes a positive virtue of applauding homosexuality. Many schools, particularly those based on religious foundations, label that as a sin. So it is important that homophobic bullying should not go unnoticed and should be included in the matters to which a school must pay attention. However, as the noble Lord,Lord Judd, said, the problem is general. Not only homosexuals suffer in this way. Many thousands of children suffer—years and years after the Elton report showed schools how to deal with bullying. I remember that we tried as hard as this Government have to deal with it. I do not think that bullying can be eradicated, but we need to continue to make an effort to do so, as the noble Lord, Lord Judd, suggested.