Why we're investigating the use of restraint in schools

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February 2020

School children ( [link removed] )

Inquiry opened into use of restraint in schools

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This month we have launched an inquiry into how schools are
monitoring and recording their use of restraint, following
widespread concerns about its use and the lack of data available.

Restraint can be distressing and can have a significant impact on
anyone, but it can particularly affect children.

To understand if restraint and seclusion methods are used
appropriately in schools, it is important to monitor and record
its use. However, unlike in other institutions such as child and
adolescent mental health units and young offender
institutions, there is no legal duty on schools to record
incidents. This has resulted in a lack of transparency and almost
no official data on how and when restraint is being used.

Our inquiry will find out whether primary, secondary and special
needs schools in England and Wales are collecting information and
if so, whether they are using it to inform any improvements to
how they use restraint.

Find out more about the inquiry here ( [link removed] )

Laura Lucking ( [link removed] )

Why a lack of data on restraint puts children at risk

Writing for Schools Week ( [link removed] ), our Director of Compliance, Laura Lucking, explains why we
have launched an inquiry into the monitoring of restraint in
schools.

Read Laura's blog ( [link removed] )

Bars

Legal challenge launched against Health Secretary

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We have launched a legal challenge against the Secretary of State
for Health and Social Care to force action to uphold the human
rights of people with learning disabilities and/or autism. This
is due to the repeated failure to move people out of secure
hospitals into more appropriate accommodation.

We have long-standing concerns about the human rights of more
than 2,000 people with learning disabilities and/or autism who
are currently detained, often far away from home and for many
years.

We have now sent a pre-action letter to Matt Hancock, Secretary
of State for Health & Social Care, arguing that the Department of
Health & Social Care has failed in its obligations to protect
human rights by repeatedly missing its own targets to address
this issue. We expect the Department to respond by 17th March.

Find out more about our legal challenge ( [link removed] )

quote mark

'We cannot afford to miss more deadlines. We cannot afford any
more Winterbourne Views or Whorlton Halls. We cannot afford to
risk further abuse being inflicted on even a single more person
at the distressing and horrific levels we have seen. We need the
Department of Health and Social Care to act now.

'These are people who deserve our support and compassion, not
abuse and brutality. Inhumane and degrading treatment in place of
adequate healthcare cannot be the hallmark of our society. One
scandal should have been one too many.'

Rebecca Hilsenrath, CEO, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Sara Brunet ( [link removed] )

Upholding the rights of disabled people through the courts

Sara Brunet, who is a lawyer in our Advisory & Litigation team,
explains the significance of a recent ruling in the Court of
Appeal. We intervened on two linked cases to protect the rights
of disabled people who were migrated onto Universal Credit.

Read Sara's blog ( [link removed] )

Our recommendations for the Domestic Abuse Bill

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We welcome the Government’s commitment tore-introduce the
Domestic Abuse Bill to Parliament as soon as possible ( [link removed] ). This is a much-needed piece of legislation and we welcome the
government’s intention that the Bill should be a
“once-in-a-generation opportunity” to transform the response to
domestic abuse. However, in order to fulfil this transformative
potential, significant improvements to the Bill are needed.

We are calling for the Bill to:

* Ensure equal protection and support for all survivors,
including those with insecure immigration status.
* Ensure a full range of specialist services are properly funded
and provided for all survivors.
* Remove barriers to justice in civil and family matters,
including through extension of new provisions for special
measures to the family and civil courts and a strengthening and
extension of the prohibition against cross-examination in person
by an alleged perpetrator.

The Domestic Abuse Bill fell when Parliament was dissolved for
the election last year, and is shortly due to be reintroduced.
Our briefing, produced for the second reading of the previous
version of the Bill, is available here:

Our briefing on the Domestic Abuse Bill ( [link removed] )

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Equality and Human Rights Commission

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