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<p>Schools, internet providers and parents all have a role to play in keeping children
safe online.</p><p>When carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare
of children, all schools and colleges must have regard to the statutory guidance,
<em>Keeping children safe in education</em>, which was launched in December 2015.
The guidance makes clear that school staff have a responsibility to provide children
a safe environment in which they can learn. The guidance also sets out that schools
should consider how children are taught about safeguarding, including online safeguarding,
through teaching and learning opportunities, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
We are currently consulting on further strengthening the online safety requirement
for schools, to require all schools to have appropriate filters and monitoring systems
in place with regards to the schools IT system.</p><p>Every school is required by
law to have a behaviour policy with measures in place to prevent all forms of bullying,
including cyberbullying. We have produced advice for schools on tackling bullying
and advice for parents on how to prevent their child from being cyberbullied, as well
as how to spot signs that they have been targeted and what steps to take. We are providing
£1.3m in 2015-16 to anti-bullying charities to tackle all forms of bullying.</p><p>The
Government Equalities Office is funding the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce advice
for schools on how to keep children safe online. This advice will be available in
the spring of 2016.</p><p>E-safety has been a statutory requirement within the new
computing programme of study since September 2014. The introduction of e-safety content
in key stages 1 and 2 reflects the fact that children are increasingly accessing the
internet from a young age, and is intended to inform pupils of good practice in staying
safe online from an early age.</p><p>The Government has encouraged Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) to provide parents with the ability to easily filter content in the
home. The four major ISPs, BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, which together constitute
an estimated 90% of the UK’s broadband market, have delivered on their commitment
to provide an unavoidable choice on whether to install family friendly network level
filters to their customers.</p><p>We expect social media companies to have robust
processes in place to address inappropriate and abusive content on their sites. This
includes having clear reporting channels, acting promptly to assess reports, and removing
content which does not comply with their acceptable use policies or terms and conditions.
Social media can also help signpost vulnerable users to helpful sources of information
and support.</p><p>Increasingly, children as well as adults access the internet through
mobile phones and other mobile devices. The main Mobile Network Operators, EE, O2,
Vodafone and Three, which between them cover around 85% of the UK’s mobile connections,
all automatically filter age-inappropriate material by default. They have robust processes
in place for verifying the age of those seeking to remove the filters.</p>
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