Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, , pursuant to his oral contribution of 25 February 2019, Official Report, column 36, if he will make Relationships Education, Sex and Relationships Education and Health Education available as a free teacher subject specialism training course; and if he will make a statement.

The Department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education. That is why we have announced that we have a budget of £6 million in the 2019-20 financial year to develop a programme of support for schools. This funding will come from the budget allocated to the Qualifications, Curriculum and Extra-Curricular Directorate in the Department. Further funding beyond the next financial year is a matter of the forthcoming Spending Review. We will provide a supplementary guide, targeted support on materials, and training; and are encouraging schools to start teaching the subjects from September 2019 if they feel able to. We also intend to produce supporting information for schools on how to teach about all aspects of internet safety, not just those relating to relationships, sex and health.

We know from our consultation on the draft statutory guidance with schools that training was identified as a priority for many teachers. The Department is currently working with teachers and schools to determine how training for these subjects should be structured and what should be contained in it.