Nearly a third of parents said local schools were not dealing with bullying quickly and effectively, new figures show.

It comes as the Anti-Bullying Alliance, which coordinates Anti-Bullying Week each year, said staff must be better equipped at tackling bullying to lessen the serious impact it has on children.

Ofsted figures for the year to September 2023 show 1,798 parents were asked if their child has been bullied and whether the school dealt with the bullying "quickly and effectively".

Of the 565 parents that said the question was relevant to them, 30 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed that the school handled the bullying effectively.

Across England, 32 per cent of parents said their child's school did not deal with bullying well.

The data covers private and public nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools and special schools.

In Cumberland, 9 per cent of parents said their child was not happy at their school while 7 per cent said their kid did not feel safe.

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David Johnston, minister for children, families and wellbeing said: "Bullying is never acceptable, which is why this government is committed to working with schools to create good behaviour cultures and to improve approaches to tackling bullying."