---

Equality Bill

In equating harassment with bullying, I align myself with the noble Baroness. I also wish to express a wider concern. Bullying in any form on any grounds is unacceptable and every school ought to have a duty to protect every child from it. That is difficult to do, and it is not always possible to identify what is going on. One can only identify the person to whom it is happening. The child involved is often reluctant, for reasons of fear, retribution or amour propre, to accept that it is happening. Bullying can take many forms; it can be verbal as well as physical. The concern that I am trying to express is that by picking off particular sorts of bullying, we may somehow reduce the importance of protecting children from all other sorts of bullying, which can be just as harmful or miserable. I hope that the noble Baroness will bear that in mind and reflect on it between now and Report; or if she can say something now, I would be glad to hear it. I am reluctant to subscribe to something that focuses interest on one particular area of bullying which might reduce it on bullying as a whole.