Pop star Will Young has called on schools to crack down on the use of the word 'gay' as an insult.

His plea, at the start of national Anti-Bullying Week, comes as an anti-bullying charity claimed there was a crisis in support for young people.

Ditch The Label surveyed more than 10,000 people online aged between 13 and 22, and found that 42pc want more education on minority groups and equality, while 38pc said they wanted to see an increase in education about effects of bullying on young people.

In an interview with the Times Educational Supplement, Mr Young said: 'In fairness, Ofsted is pretty good when it comes to looking at homophobic language, but I think part of the reason is that language and the use of the word 'gay' has not come under the definition of homophobia.

'Secondary school heads don't see it as being homophobic and many say it happens so often 'how are we going to tackle it?' And a lot of the time they see it as just kids being kids.'

South West Norfolk MP and education minister Elizabeth Truss said: 'We will not tolerate any form of bullying in schools.

'No child should have to suffer the fear and victimisation of bullying. Every school must have measures in place by law to prevent it and thanks to our new curriculum, children will soon be taught how to stay safe online, including cyber-bullying, from the age of five.

'We have strengthened the powers teachers have to tackle bullying. They can search pupils for banned items, delete inappropriate images from phones and give out same day detentions.

'We are also providing more than £4m to a range of anti-bullying organisations to help schools develop strategies to tackle the problem and deal with the impact when it occurs.'

Have you experienced bullying? What are the best ways to tackle the problem? Comment below, or email martin.george@archant.co.uk