Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her comments on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme in relation to on her Department’s consultation on the new Relationships, Sex and Heath Education guidance on 16th May 2024, if she will publish the names of the schools at which the alleged inappropriate content she has seen on gender identity has been taught.

The department does not systematically collect information on what is taught by schools. The department has made it clear in the draft Relationships, Sex and Heath Education (RSHE) guidance that schools have to ensure that parents are aware of what their children are being taught, which provides the basis for most issues to be resolved locally.

The department’s draft guidance is very clear that schools should teach the facts about equality and the protected characteristics, including gender reassignment, but they should not include contested theory on gender identity in their teaching.

This cautious approach is in line with the draft guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning pupils, which the department consulted on recently, and the recommendations from the Cass Review.