admin
Questions need to be answered over the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, as ministers prepare “stronger safeguards” for children being taught at home.
Sara’s father and stepmother were found guilty of her murder on Wednesday, in a case Sir Keir described as “awful”.
It comes as the government said it would introduce a new duty so that parents need local authority consent to home-school children if the child is subject to a protection plan.
Speaking earlier, Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said it was “madness” that the law currently allows parents to take a child out of school, even if concerns had already been raised
The new proposals would include a child identifier, to act like an NHS number, with a requirement for every council to have multi-agency child safeguarding teams.
“We clearly need answers as to how this could have happened. We’re focused on doing everything within our power to stop this type of terrible crime happening again,” a No 10 spokesperson said.
Sara was removed from school after her father and stepmother became aware her teachers had spoken to social services.
Urfan Sharif, 43, and Beinash Batool, 30, were convicted of Sara’s murder on Wednesday after a trial heard they had subjected her to two years of horrific abuse.
