Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what impact assessment his Department has carried out to assess the amount of work required by schools to implement the statutory teaching of Relationships and Sex Education from September 2020.

The Department is committed to supporting all schools in their preparations for the introduction of relationships education (RE), relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education from September 2020.

In July 2018, as part of the consultation on the draft regulations and statutory guidance, the Department published a draft impact assessment, which set out the assessment the Department had made of the impact of the requirement to teach compulsory RE and RSE on independent and maintained schools. The assessment was made in line with requirements set out in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, and responses to the consultation helped finalise the regulations, statutory guidance and impact assessment. The Government response can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/780768/Government_Response_to_RSE_Consultation.pdf.

The Department is investing in a central support package to support all schools to increase the confidence and quality of their teaching practice. We are currently developing a new online service featuring training materials, case studies and support to access resources. This will be available from April 2020 with additional content added through the summer term, covering all of the teaching requirements in the statutory guidance. The implementation guide will also be provided to all schools as part of this service, and training offers will be available for schools that need additional support.