Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure that the Independent Advisory Panel for the DfE Review of the RSHE Statutory Guidance engages adequately with (a) schools and (b) parents as set out in the terms of reference published on 31 May 2023, in the context of the announcement that it will conclude its work by September 2023 and of the school summer holidays which will take place from late July to September.

The Department is providing dedicated secretariat support to service all aspects of the Panel’s work, including the identification of further experts and stakeholders for the Panel to engage with. The Department expects the Panel to report back regularly.

The Department expects that any engagement with schools undertaken by the Panel will be prioritised to ensure relevant activity takes place before the school holidays. The Department has already engaged with parent groups as part of the review and will facilitate their engagement with the Panel.

The terms of reference stipulate that the Panel will identify the topics within the relationships, sex and health education curriculum which would benefit from age limits. The Panel will bring together expertise on health, teaching, curriculum development, and safeguarding. It will advise on the application of suitable age limits for some topics to ensure pupils are protected from inappropriate concepts they are too young to understand. In doing so, it will draw on wider expertise on specific matters. The Panel will be independent and make its own recommendations to the Secretary of State for Education on age restrictions, including whether some topics are unsuitable. It will be for the Panel to determine what topics they wish to look at and whether they deem further work is necessary.