Minister says ‘no plans’ to ban smacking in England, despite comment from Sara Sharif’s father – UK politics live

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson tells LBC ‘we’re not intending to legislate around this’

Good morning. The children’s wellbeing and schools bill is being published today and, as Sally Weale reports, it will set out plans to tighten checks on children being educated at home in England.

Publication coincides with the sentencing of the killers of 10-year-old Sara Sharif – her father and step-mother – following a trial that revealed details of one of the most shocking cases of child cruelty heard by a British court in years. Sara was taken out of school, and educated at home in the months before her death, even though teachers had started to notice evidence that she was being assaulted at home, and so the legislation – although planned well before the trial – does address one of safeguarding loopholes the Sharif case has highlighted.

Too many children have been failed by the state in recent years, it is clear that action is required. So no more lessons learned, no more words. Today we set out our plans to make sure that those agencies are working together and that we have much greater visibility of where children are and what they’re experiencing in their lives.

What haunts me the most about Sara’s death is that her father used the words ‘I legally punished my child’, believing this to be a defence to murder. It is unthinkable that any parent or carer could hide behind our legal system to justify such cruelty – and yet, children living in England today have less protection from assault than adults.

We’re not intending to legislate around this. I do want to look at the experience in Wales and Scotland where they have legislated to understand what the effect has been.

Because what I want to understand is the impact and the effect of the legislation in Wales. They will be setting out the first round of a review into the implications and effect of the legislation that they had introduced. I would like to see that, would like to understand it, and to decide then whether it’s necessary to take further measures here in England.