What steps he has considered to assist teachers and parents to reduce the incidence of cyberbullying of children; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has given legal powers to schools staff to regulate the conduct of pupils inside and outside school premises, including by dealing with bullying on school buses or addressing cyberbullying that originates at home. In addition, DCSF has provided schools with guidance on how to prevent and tackle cyberbullying and provided parents with advice, through our sponsored Parentline Plus service, on how to spot all forms of bullying and the steps to take to stop it.

I thank my hon. Friend for her answer. I also congratulate her on the work done so far, but there is so much more that needs to be done. Cyberbullying is on the up. Schools have to be vigilant at all times, as do parents. However, a lot of my constituents feel that parents do not get enough advice to understand exactly what cyberbullying is.

My hon. Friend has raised the issue before and takes a keen interest in it. The Government are committed to ensuring that parents are as fully informed as possible about cyberbullying-and, of course, about all forms of bullying-and what they can do to stop it. Let me refer my hon. Friend to the national anti-bullying week, which took place in November. Thirty-thousand young people signed up to the "Laugh at it, and you're part of it" campaign, which was designed to draw attention to cyberbullying.

The Minister will know that each school has an acceptable use policy, and one way to help teachers might be to extend those powers beyond the boundaries of the playground. Will the Minister look at this issue and see whether cyberbullies could be dealt with when they return from home to school if there has been cyberbullying between two pupils at the same school?

Schools, and head teachers in particular, already have a duty to deal with bullying, and schools have the power to deal with bullying, including cyberbullying, that takes place elsewhere-not just on the school premises.

May I tell my hon. Friend about the good work being done by Childnet in partnership with organisations as far away as Net-Aman in Egypt in bringing children together to discuss among themselves how to create better working practices for children and more children-focused systems on the net? This is the right way to proceed-to engage children in the decision-making process.

I know my hon. Friend has a great deal of experience in this area of information technology. I absolutely agree, and the Government are committed to ensuring that children and young people know and fully understand what they are doing when they go on the internet and how to protect themselves.