I congratulate my hon. Friend Ms Keeble on securing this debate. I know that she has campaigned strongly on this issue, and it is clear from her speech that she considers the safety and well-being of children and young people in her constituency an absolute priority.

I am sure that we would all agree that those concerns about safety extend across both sides of the House. As Members of Parliament, as a Government and of course as a society, we all recognise that our first priority must always be to keep children safe. Of course, that responsibility extends to all school pupils, whether they are in the independent or the maintained sector. As I am sure my hon. Friend knows, all independent schools must be registered with the Department for Children, Schools and Families. As a condition of this registration, and indeed continued registration, they must meet the standards we would expect of any school in the maintained sector. Those standards include the quality of welfare provided to children and the extent to which they protect the health and safety of each and every child in their care.

In 2007, the Government introduced the guidance, "Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education", which maintained and independent schools are required to comply with. It sets out employers' duties and responsibilities with regard to child protection, including working to locally agreed procedures for dealing with allegations, and the involvement of police and other local agencies. It also sets out the need for all staff to undertake child protection training and for schools to have a designated child protection officer. In short, when a parent opts their child out of the maintained sector, they do not opt out of their child's right to a safe education.

As I am sure my hon. Friend will appreciate, it is not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases of teacher conduct or specific allegations against staff. However, I can say without hesitation that there simply is not one rule for the maintained sector and another for the independent sector. Local authorities have the same powers to intervene in relation to state and independent schools. If there is any particular issue that she is concerned about, I will be more than happy to meet her to discuss it further.