Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Barran on 9 January (HL4502 and HL4503), what current research informs their statutory curriculum for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) with regard to gambling education.

The current statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) was informed by a stakeholder engagement process in 2017, including a public call for evidence that received over 23,000 responses from parents, young people, schools and experts.

The department has worked closely with subject experts Parent Zone and Childnet to develop the Internet Safety and Harms training module, which includes content on gambling and was published in September 2020, alongside modules on all aspects of the RSHE curriculum.

The department is also working closely with Gambling with Lives and the Department of Health and Social Care to review the ongoing evidence around gambling to help inform future policy. The research currently being undertaken for the department by IFF Research will test whether schools are teaching RSHE effectively, including about the risks of gambling, and will provide emerging findings to inform decisions regarding the department’s review of the RSHE statutory guidance which is anticipated to start this year.