Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what information she holds on the process that was used for the production of planned EHRC guidance for schools on how to support trans children over the past five years; and what plans the EHRC has to publish such guidance in the next year.

We recognise that appropriately supporting all children in schools can involve balancing complex and sensitive matters. The Government continues to work across departments and with the LGBT sector to better understand these issues and how best we can support schools. The Secretary of State for Education has recently written to the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to accept her offer of advice as they determine their next steps in this area and other equalities issues for schools.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the independent regulator for equality law and regularly issues guidance on areas of equality law that span across several sectors.

It is not unusual for regulators and the Government to engage on relevant issues nor for Government departments to issue guidance relevant to their specific briefs. In this specific instance, that approach will enable Department for Education sectoral expertise, on safeguarding for example, to be taken fully into account in any next steps.