Forced marriage plea to schools

New guidelines are being published urging schools to identify signs of forced marriages ahead of the holidays.

The guidance comes as an official report raises questions about how schools and some councils have responded to calls for help.

The report calls on schools to play a greater preventative role, saying some are clearly reluctant to get involved.

The government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) says it has received 770 calls for help this year - up 16% on 2008.

The unit, run jointly by the Home Office and Foreign Office, received 1,600 reports last year - and intervened in 420 actual cases.

The courts have also made 36 forced marriage prevention orders, a recently created power designed to prevent people being taken abroad against their will.

Overall, there are estimated to be at least 5,000 cases, but it is impossible to know for certain.

Some of these involved deploying specialist teams in south Asia to rescue young British women who had been coerced by their families into marriages they did not want to be part of.

But experts say that the coming month will be critical because there is growing evidence that families use the school summer holidays to force daughters and some sons to marry abroad.

The new guidance published by the FMU urges teachers to be aware of signs of a possible forced marriage because school and college is often the only place where the potential victim can speak freely.

However, according to government research, also published on Thursday, some local bodies including schools are not doing enough to intervene.

The report for the Department for Children, Schools and Families details criticisms of some schools and education authorities, accusing them of being "non-responsive" and failing to intervene as they dismiss forced marriage as a "cultural issue" or fear a backlash from powerful figures in minority communities.

"In all areas we noted a variation among key partners in the importance they attached to responding to forced marriage," says the report.

"One respondent talked about how it was precisely those cases of children [going missing from education] that showed the signs of forced marriage that were less likely to be followed up in schools as this was seen as an issue specific to the culture of the child."

Baroness Delyth Morgan, minister for young people, said: "All children have the right to grow up safe from harm.

"As the end of the school year nears it's vital that we get the message out that forced marriage is totally unacceptable and where children are subjected to this practice, the impact on their education and their future is devastating."

Home Office Minister Alan Campbell said the new national guidance, which also cover the police and other agencies, said "These guidelines offer clear, step by step guidance to front line professionals about what to do when dealing with suspected cases of forced marriage.

"By working together we can ensure that all victims of forced marriage receive sympathetic, effective and joined-up support and also challenge the culture of acceptance."