Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to update existing sex and relationships education guidance.

Edward Timpson

This Government wants to provide all young people with a curriculum for life, which prepares them to succeed in modern Britain. High quality teaching of PSHE is central to this.

The Secretary of State wrote to the ESC in February 2016 stating that the Department will continue to keep the status of PSHE in the curriculum under review.

We have asked leading head teachers and practitioners to produce an action plan for improving PSHE. We will work with these experts to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and SRE.

We welcome the supplementary advice for schools, ‘Sex and relationships education (SRE) for the 21st century’, published by the PSHE Association, the Sex Education Forum, and Brook. This addresses changes in technology and legislation since 2000, in particular equipping teachers to help protect children and young people from inappropriate online content, and from online bullying, harassment and exploitation.