Oral Answers to Questions

Alistair Strathern Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

The hon. Member raises a really important issue. It is not just about keeping young people in further education, which the measure that he outlines would assist with; it is also about engaging young people in school more thoroughly, which is why the whole range of reforms that I have begun to sketch out are so important.

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

T9. Shockingly, 16 to 19-year-olds face higher rates of domestic abuse than any other age group. With the worst corners of the internet peddling increasingly extreme attitudes to them around sex and relationships, surely we owe them better. That is why my private Member’s Bill builds on the inspiring campaigner Faustine Petron’s work to make it mandatory to ensure that young people up to the age of 18 have healthy spaces to explore these issues in school and at college. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can make that vision a reality?

[Lucy Powell]

I know that the Minister has spoken to my hon. Friend. His Bill raises an important issue, and I want to see relationship education and all the issues around that extended as far and wide as possible, because it is absolutely critical in the social media age.