Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Education Union report on Sexism in schools published in December 2017, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the relationships and sex education curriculum is designed to prevent sexism and sexual harassment among children and young people at all key stages.

On 14 December 2017 the Department published advice for schools on how to prevent and respond to reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment between children: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sexual-violence-and-sexual-harassment-between-children-in-schools-and-colleges.

The Department wants to ensure that all pupils gain the knowledge and skills they need to keep themselves safe and develop healthy, respectful and positive relationships for adult life in modern Britain. The Department is actively engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to develop the regulations and guidance on Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education; and we launched two calls for evidence on 19 December, one for adults and one for young people, to seek views on the curriculum content for these subjects. The calls for evidence close on 12 February and can be accessed via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/life-skills/pshe-rse-call-for-evidence/.

We envisage draft regulations and the guidance will be published for consultation later this year. The regulations will then be laid in Parliament.