Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will amend the guidance on sex and relationship education to include teaching about pornography as recommended by the Report of the Women and Equalities Committee into sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools, published on 13 September 2016, HC 91.

The Department is making Relationships Education compulsory in all primary schools, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory in all secondary schools and Health Education compulsory for primary and secondary.

The aim of RSE is to give young people the information they need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds, not just intimate relationships. The draft guidance states that by the end of secondary school pupils should know how to distinguish between content and experiences that exemplify healthy relationships and those that are distorted or harmful. This also includes the danger of viewing harmful material online.

The draft guidance (which will replace the Sex and Relationships Education guidance) and regulations are currently available for public consultation. The consultation closes on 7 November, and can be accessed via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/.