Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) schools and (b) local authorities in the event of protests against relationships and sex education.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all schools are equipped to deliver the new subjects of relationships education at primary level, relationships and sex education at secondary level and health education for all schools. This includes ensuring schools and parents engage in effective dialogue. Protests outside schools can be disruptive to children’s education. We encourage parents to talk to their child’s school in a calm and constructive way if they have concerns.

The Department has worked with the National Association of Headteachers and the National Governance Association to produce guidance for primary schools on effective engagement with parents on relationships education. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/engaging-parents-with-relationships-education-policy.

To help local authorities support schools that are managing concerns from parents, including where this has reached the level of disruption to schools, we have worked with the Local Government Association and Birmingham City Council to produce advice. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-issues-with-lgbt-teaching-advice-for-local-authorities.

The Department has also supported Birmingham City Council in their injunction proceedings to prevent disruptive protests outside Anderton Park primary school.