Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) and Personal Social Health and Economic Education (PSHE) are unavailable as a free teacher subject specialism training course; if she will make it her policy to make those subjects available as a free teacher subject specialism training course; what steps she has taken to increase provision of teacher training on those subjects following recent legislative changes; and if she will make a statement.

The Department will be conducting a thorough engagement process on the scope and content of Relationships Education, relationships and sex education and personal, social, health and economic education, involving a wide range of interested stakeholders. This will have significant involvement of the teaching profession. As part of this process we will also consider subject content, school practice and quality of delivery. We will use this evidence to determine what support schools need to best prepare for these reforms. We will listen to schools about which options can best meet the training and development needs of teachers.

We will set out shortly more details about the engagement process, and the work to consider age-appropriate subject content and support for schools.