PM 'very concerned' about schools' handling of gender identity issues

Rishi Sunak says he’s ‘very concerned’ about claims schools aren’t telling parents if children question their gender – as Education Secretary Gillian Keegan writes to headteachers to remind them of duty to reveal what pupils are taught

• New report finds only 28% of parents told when a child questions their gender

Rishi Sunak today said he was ‘very concerned’ about claims that schools are not routinely telling parents if their child has begun to question their gender identity.

The Prime Minister stressed it was important that parents ‘know what’s going on’ as he vowed to provide new guidance for teachers on transgender issues within weeks.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will also write to school heads to remind them that parents have a right to see what their children are being taught. 

A new report by the Policy Exchange think tank has found that less than one-third of parents are informed when a child expresses feelings of gender distress at school.

The research pointed to an emphasis being placed ‘on the wishes and innate feelings of a child above parental consent’.

It also discovered that ‘safeguarding principles are being routinely disregarded in many secondary schools’ over issues of sex and gender.

Rishi Sunak, speaking on a visit to the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Oxfordshire, stressed it was important that parents ‘know what’s going on’

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will write to school heads to remind them that parents have a right to see what their children are being taught

Speaking on a visit to the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Oxfordshire this morning, Mr Sunak said he was ‘very concerned about these reports’.

‘For me, the safety and wellbeing of our children is of paramount importance,’ the PM added.

‘And I’ve also been clear that parents must be able to know what is being taught to their kids in school, especially on these sensitive areas.

‘That’s why we’re already reviewing the RSHE (relationships, sex and health education) guidance to make sure that it is age appropriate for children.

‘But also what I’m also going to say today is that for the summer term we will make sure that we publish guidance for schools so that they know how to respond when children are asking about their gender.

‘These are really sensitive areas, it’s important that we treat them sensitively, and that parents know what’s going on, and we’ll make sure that that happens.’

Downing Street later revealed that Ms Keegan would be writing to schools by the end of this week to ‘make clear’ that parents ‘should have access to the materials their children are being taught’. 

‘That has been our long-established position but we will be reiterating it,’ the PM’s official spokesman added. 

The guidance on gender identity issues is being prepared by both Ms Keegan and Kemi Badenoch, the women and equalities minister.

Pressed on what, in particular, Mr Sunak was concerned about, his spokesman replied: ‘The first point to say is we do believe the vast majority of teachers and schools are doing a good job on what is a complex and difficult area.

‘But clearly there have been reports, including those brought up in Parliament, where potentially the right approach isn’t being taken.

‘That’s why we have a number of pieces of work going on.

The Policy Exchange report suggested only 28 per cent of secondary schools are reliably informing parents as soon as a child questions their gender

The research also found around 28 per cent of secondary schools are not maintaining single-sex toilets and 19 per cent are not maintaining single-sex changing rooms

Earlier this month, Tory backbench MP Miriam Cates expressed concern that schoolchildren are being subjected to RSHE lessons that are ‘age inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate’.

She claimed during a session of Prime Minister’s Questions that this included ‘graphic lessons on oral sex, how to choke your partner safely and 72 genders’.

Mr Sunak promised to accelerate a review of RSHE guidance and to begin a consultation ‘as soon as possible’.

But some teaching unions hit back and said there was ‘no evidence’ to suggest there was a widespread problem with pupils being presented with age-inappropriate materials.

The Policy Exchange research, published today, was largely based on Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to more than 300 secondary schools in England.

Some 154 schools responded, either fully or in part, to questions asked by the think tank about gender policies. 

It suggested that only 28 per cent of the secondary schools who responded to the FoI are reliably informing parents as soon as a child questions their gender. 

The report said that one school cited data protection laws when stating that it would be ‘unlawful’ to share information about a gender-distressed child with their parents.

The research also found around 28 per cent of secondary schools are not maintaining single-sex toilets and 19 per cent are not maintaining single-sex changing rooms.

The report concluded: ‘Our research reveals there to be a safeguarding blind spot when it comes to the issue of sex and gender.

‘Safeguarding principles are being routinely disregarded in many secondary schools, which are neglecting their safeguarding responsibilities and principles in favour of a set of contested beliefs, in ways that risk jeopardising child wellbeing and safety.

‘In doing so, schools are compromising both the law and statutory safeguarding guidance.’

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