Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to bring into force sections 34 and 35 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (relationships, sex, and PSHE).

We want to help all schools to deliver high-quality Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) so that all young people are equipped to have healthy and respectful relationships, and leave school with the knowledge to prepare them for adult life.

As part of our next steps, the Department intends to conduct thorough and wide-ranging engagement with stakeholders which will help determine the content of the regulations and statutory guidance. This will cover subject content, school practice, quality of delivery and careful consideration of PSHE. We will ensure the subjects are carefully designed to safeguard and support pupils whilst being deliverable for schools.

We are fully committed to this programme of work and will set out shortly more details about the engagement process, the timetable and the work to consider age appropriate subject content.

This will result in draft regulations and guidance on which we will consult. Following consultation, the regulations will be laid in the House allowing for a full and considered debate. We are working towards schools teaching the new subjects from September 2019.