Relationship Education in Schools Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Relationship Education in Schools

Kate Green Excerpts
Tuesday 16th July 2019

(4 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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I can make it clear from this Dispatch Box that parents do not have a veto over the content of the curriculum. That has been absolutely clear: it is clear from the guidance; it is clear from what I have said; it is clear from what the Secretary of State has said. In addition to that, we strongly encourage schools to start teaching about LGBT issues in primary school.

Kate Green Portrait Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
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Will the Minister make sure that his Department takes responsibility for ensuring that every piece of information that is made available to parents, including consultation materials, is available in community languages, in easy-read format and in other accessible formats?

Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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The implementation guide will set out very clearly how to plan the curriculum, how to engage parents and the processes that schools need to go through to plan and develop the policy. As I mentioned in my opening comments, we have published the information in three separate languages to try to dispel myths, but the key message that I hope comes from this debate is that we will fully support and back headteachers who decide to teach LGBT issues in their school. As long as they have been through the process of consultation and they publish their policy on the school website, they will have our full backing.