00:00 Will this charter bring down youth violence in London?
00:03 I think the key thing is to recognise there's a correlation between school exclusions and violence.
00:08 If we can reduce school exclusions, that should lead to a reduction in violence.
00:14 We also know from a report Ofsted themselves did around knife crime,
00:18 that somebody who's excluded from school is twice as likely to carry a knife.
00:24 During the course of my minority, but also as a Member of Parliament,
00:27 I visited many prisons and research bears out my anecdotal experience,
00:31 which is half of those currently in prison, when they were children, were excluded.
00:36 So the more we can do to reduce persistent absenteeism, to reduce suspensions,
00:40 to reduce exclusions, increases the life chances of the young people,
00:45 but also I think can reduce youth violence further.
00:47 The charter has received support from 17 or 18 boroughs at this stage.
00:51 Have any of the boroughs that haven't yet signed up expressed any concerns about it?
00:55 I think it's a question of the 18 who've signed up, have responded quickly.
01:00 I'll be writing to the other 14 just to remind them of the existence of the charter.
01:04 I appreciate how busy local authorities are, council leaders are, headteachers are, teachers are,
01:09 so we'll be raising awareness of the charter, but also reminding them of other schools
01:14 that have signed up and the benefits they've seen,
01:16 other boroughs that may have signed up and the benefits they've seen.
01:19 I think everyone would agree, a headteacher must have discretion
01:23 in relation to if a child's behaviour has crossed the line
01:26 and it affects the safety or well-being of staff or pupils to exclude a young person.
01:32 But actually we should do what we can to try and keep young people in schools.
01:36 That point you make about the right to exclude in certain circumstances is important
01:39 because it's a criticism that comes up about this sort of inclusive approach.
01:43 I've got family members who are teachers and I've spent a lot of time with headteachers.
01:47 None of us can actually appreciate how hard being a headteacher is
01:50 and the challenges headteachers face. They must have absolute discretion
01:53 in relation to the safety or well-being of children or staff.
01:58 And that's why nobody's saying, I'm certainly not saying,
02:01 headteachers shouldn't be able to do so. I'm not interfering with the right to do so.
02:05 What I'm saying though is that if we can keep children in school, it's really important that we do so.
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