Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the recent reduction in the number of school nurses does not affect the standard of sex and relationship education in schools.

The government believes that all children should have the opportunity to receive a high quality and appropriate sex and relationship education (SRE). SRE is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools, and many primary schools also teach it in an age-appropriate way. Academies do not have to teach SRE but many choose to do so as part of their statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum.

Schools and teachers should decide what to teach based on their pupils’ needs, and taking account of pupil and parent views. Teachers are encouraged to develop their practice with the support of specialist organisations and expert professionals, as they deem appropriate, and schools work with a number of partners to deliver SRE in schools.

Since April 2013, Local Authorities have been responsible for public health locally, including school nursing, and decisions should be based around local needs. According to NHS Digital there are 1,100 qualified school nurses (Specialist Community Public Health Nurses) in England and the workforce numbers have remained relatively stable over the last few years. More information can be found at: http://digital.nhs.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=21584&topics=0%2fWorkforce&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1#top