Each region of England is to get an anti-bullying 'tsar'

The Anti-Bullying Alliance, given �570,000 by government, will not be accountable or improve victim support, the Bullying Online group claims.

The charity said it did a better job, but the education department had refused its request for �15,000.

But ABA co-founder Gill Frances called the initiative "brilliant" for schools.

'Valuable expertise'

The scheme provides nine co-ordinators to work with schools and social services.

They will promote schemes including the use of "mentoring" by older pupils, counselling and assertiveness training.

Schools, meanwhile, will get extra resources and information packs.

But Bullying Online's director, Liz Carnell, said: "Five of these anti-bullying tsars work for LEAs [local education authorities], so a huge part of the government's �570,000 for dealing with school bullying will be going straight into local government coffers.

"We think this is a waste of money and it's certainly not what we understood would happen when the alliance was launched."

She added: "LEAs already help schools deal with bullying and advise them on strategies, so LEAs will be paid twice for simply doing their job."

The co-ordinators would also "mediate in cases where parents had failed to get a solution from the school and LEA", causing a possible conflict of interests.

'More support'

A commercial firm - the publisher Lucky Duck - has been taken on to provide the co-ordinator for the South West region.

Ms Carnell said: "We don't think it's in the interests of bullied children for commercial firms to belong to the Anti-Bullying Alliance."

But Ms Frances, director of the National Children's Bureau as well as co-founder of the ABA, said: "I come from exactly the opposite view.

"This is one of the best things that I've ever been involved in.

"We've got universities with big research departments on board, along with voluntary organisations, government and private companies."

These, she added, would improve the level of support and give teachers more guidance.

At present there were "40 different methods" for dealing with bullying, which co-ordinators could clarify for different schools.

There would be a "spectrum" of methods offered, tailored to the needs of each, Ms Frances added.

Bullying Online applied to join the ABA in July and is expecting its response within the next week.

First, it has to be approved by the ABA's 50 members, including businesses.

Ms Carnell said: "It is a bureaucratic nonsense."

The ABA said Bullying Online's application was being considered along with those of nine other organisations.

Research by the Department for Education and Skills and the charity ChildLine last year found 51% of primary and 54% of secondary pupils thought bullying was a problem in their school.