Given the serious safeguarding case of the strip search of Child Q at her school while she was menstruating, have you and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) considered ending the deployment of Safer Schools Officers?

I have been clear at how dismayed and disgusted I am at what happened to Child Q and about the need to ensure the officers who conducted that search are fully held to account. Though it was not Safer Schools Officers (SSOs) that conducted that search, I am aware of the potential for them to have both a positive and negative impact on children and young people, and particularly those from Black communities.

That is why through my Action Plan for Transparency, Accountability and Trust in Policing I asked the MPS to ensure that the work of the SSOs is monitored and assessed to ensure there are no disproportionate impacts for Black children. In addition, the views of parents and children are being measured through the Public Attitude and Youth Surveys delivered by my Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), with very high levels of public support. In January 2022, MOPAC also held a public meeting on SSOs, enabling discussions between young people, parents, head teachers, local authorities and the Met Police.

The MPS has reviewed its Safer School Partnership Handbook, outlining the role and practices of SSOs and that includes the responsibility for ensuring young people are not criminalised in circumstances they otherwise would not be if a police officer did not work in a school.

I will continue to hold the Met to account for the work of the SSOs and the MPS will publish a review of their work in the coming months.