A Conservative push for an inquiry into grooming gangs that would halt the progress of reforms aimed at bolstering child safety is "absolutely sickening", the Education Secretary said on Wednesday.Bridget Phillipson said her Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is getting its second reading in the Commons this afternoon, will protect children from vanishing in the education system.It will end the automatic right for parents to homeschool children if they are subject to a local safeguarding investigation and ensure councils keep a register of young people who are not in school.The Tories have laid an amendment outlining objections to the bill, along with a call for a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs following a new wave of interest in the scandal after a slew of social media posts by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
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00:00I've had enough of lessons learned, inquiries, reviews.
00:04Let's get on and take the action that is necessary to protect children.
00:08And what the Conservatives are saying today is that they intend to block this legislation.
00:13They'll kill it stone dead.
00:15I mean, I think that is utterly shameful.
00:17For these bandwagon jumpers who've been coming along in recent days,
00:22saying that they care very much about children's safety and about child protection.
00:26The measures that we're setting out today are precisely that.
00:30To keep children safe.
00:31To make sure that everyone working to support children pulls together,
00:35shares information and takes action.
00:38I've had enough of talking about this.
00:39We've got to get on and do it.