Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the (a) quality and (b) availability of PSHE in England.

We want to provide all young people with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life. High quality personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education teaching has a vital role to play in this, helping young people understand the world around them, building resilience, and helping them to make good choices and stay safe. We have made it clear in the introduction to the national curriculum that all schools should make provision for PSHE education, drawing on examples of good practice.

In its report on PSHE education in schools in 2012, Ofsted found that overall, learning in PSHE education was good or better in 60% of schools and required improvement or was inadequate in 40%. The report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/not-yet-good-enough-personal-social-health-and-economic-education

We will continue to keep the status of PSHE under close review and work with schools and head teachers to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationships education.