Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including awareness of endometriosis in Relationships, Sex and Health Education in schools.

Statutory guidance on the current relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum published on GOV.UK states that pupils should be taught key facts about the menstrual cycle, including what is an average period, the range of menstrual products and implications for emotional and physical health. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.

While endometriosis is not mentioned specifically in the statutory guidance, it is open to schools to include it as part of this education.

In 2020, the department developed teacher training modules to support schools further, which are freely available to download from GOV.UK. This included working with Endometriosis UK when developing the ‘changing adolescent body’ module, which references endometriosis.

The department is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. As such, the government will re-engage with stakeholders, look carefully at the consultation responses and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps.