Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that all children receive LGBTQ+ inclusive education.

To prepare children for life in modern Britain, pupils need to understand the world in which they are growing up. That is why the Department has made Relationships Education compulsory for all primary school pupils, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for all secondary school pupils, and Health Education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools.

The RSE and health education guidance states that all pupils should receive teaching on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) content during their school years. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education. Secondary schools should include LGBT content in their teaching. Primary schools are strongly encouraged and enabled, when teaching about different types of family, to include families with same-sex parents. Through these subjects, children will be taught about the importance of respectful relationships and the different types of loving and healthy relationships that exist. This can be done in a way that respects everyones views.

The key priority is for relationships, sex and health education to help schools to support a diverse range of pupils with these complex and sensitive matters and to ensure that all pupils are supported and treated with kindness and understanding. The Department has published a guidance page for teachers on GOV.UK, to support the teaching of RSHE, at this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.