Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that teachers who assist a pupil under the age of 18 with changing their gender, without parental information or consent, are prosecuted for child abuse.

The department is working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to develop non statutory guidance to support schools in relation to children who are questioning their gender. It is the department’s intention that the guidance will cover a comprehensive set of relevant topics to provide clarity to schools and teachers on how to respond to children who are questioning their gender. This work is based upon the principle of protecting children and ensuring their safety and as such it will reflect the existing laws and duties placed on schools.

These decisions must not be taken lightly or in haste, and so it is vital that the guidance published by the department gives clarity for schools and colleges and reassurance for parents. Therefore, it is important that the department is able to consider a wide range of views in order to get the guidance right, so it has committed to holding a full public consultation on the draft guidance prior to publication, at the earliest opportunity.

In the meantime, schools and colleges should proceed with extreme caution. They should always involve parents in decisions relating to their child and should not agree to any changes that they are not absolutely confident are in the best interests of that child and their peers. They should prioritise safeguarding by meeting their existing legal duties to protect single sex spaces and maintain safety and fairness in single sex sport.

The Department’s statutory guidance ‘Working Together’ and ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which can both be found attached, already sets out the legal responsibilities and duties placed on professionals and schools in relation to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. These are sensitive cases which require professional judgement that takes account of the factors in each particular case.