Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that schools are teaching up-to-date information on HIV.

In September 2020, the Government made relationships education compulsory for primary school pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for secondary school pupils and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools.

In secondary schools, the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance states that pupils should be taught factual knowledge around sex, sexual health, and sexuality, set firmly within the context of relationships. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education. Pupils should be taught information concerning contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), developing intimate relationships and resisting pressure to have sex.

The ‘intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health’ topic specifies that by the end of secondary school, pupils should know how different STIs, including HIV/AIDS, are transmitted, how risk can be reduced and the importance of and facts regarding testing. Pupils are also taught information concerning HIV/AIDS at Key Stages 3 and 4 as part of the science curriculum.

To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence, the Department has produced RSHE teacher training modules, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.

From primary education onwards, age-appropriate relationships education supports pupils to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, including understanding the importance of respectful relationships and the different types of loving and healthy relationships that exist.