Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations that PSHE education be made a routine part of children’s education.

Jane Ellison

The Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report for 2012, Our Children Deserve Better (published October 2013) included a recommendation that: ‘Public Health England, the PSHE Association and other leading organisations in the field should review the evidence linking health and wellbeing with educational attainment, and from that promote models of good practice for educational establishments to use.’

There was no recommendation as such that Personal, Social and Health Education be made routine or mandatory in schools; however the Department for Education is working with a group of head teachers and experts to improve the quality of PSHE.

The Department of Health’s Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (2013) sets out our objectives and ambitions to improve the sexual health of all people, including young people. For young people the Framework highlights the importance of: building knowledge and resilience through good-quality sex and relationship education; access to confidential advice and support about wellbeing, relationships and sexual health; understanding consent (including sexual consent and abusive relationships), and understanding the benefits of delaying sex.