New law would give parents access to RSE materials

A new law, proposed by Miriam Cates MP, would make it possible for sex education materials to be shared with parents.

This week, Conservative MP Miriam Cates, put forward a Sex Education Transparency Private Members’ Bill to put pressure on the Government to legislate on parental rights in obtaining RSE curriculum.

The move comes after parent Clare Page lost a legal battle to obtain sex education materials used by the school her 15-year-old daughter attends. In a lesson that parents were told would be about sexual consent, Mrs Page’s daughter was taught that “heteronormativity” was a “bad thing”, and that she should be “sex positive” towards relationships.

In March of this year, Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, wrote to all schools stating that “parents should be able to view all curriculum materials”, including cases “where an external agency advises schools that their materials cannot be shared due to restrictions in commercial law, or a school’s contract with the provider prohibits sharing materials beyond the classroom”.

Despite this, Judge Sophie Buckley overruled Mrs Page’s case on the grounds that the commercial interests of the third-party sex education provider outweighed the public interest in reviewing the lesson plan.

Mrs Cates said: “We are hearing of schools every week who are hiding materials from parents.”

She added: “I’ve been following Clare Page’s case very closely. It is incredibly disappointing from a parent’s point of view that the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) was upheld on appeal.

“Because the guidance sent by Gillian Keegan to schools earlier this year telling them to share materials with parents wasn’t statutory, but commercial interests are established in law, the judge found in favour of commercial interests because the guidance was not statutory.

“At the moment these materials aren’t published anywhere. So this Bill would make it necessary for schools only to use materials that are published somewhere.”

Mark Lehain, the Head of Education at the Centre for Policy Studies, said: “Most people will be shocked to learn that it is not already the case that schools must say who works with their pupils and what they are taught and shown. Given the recent court ruling, it is clear that we need the law tightened up so that this happens as a matter of course. Transparency is the quickest and best way to reassure families and build trust as to what happens in our schools.”

Further to the case of Clare Page, it has been reported that some schools have promoted gender fluidity and taught there are over 100 genders. A parent in London shared her child was taught about masturbation in their last year of primary school.

Sex education is now under urgent review, and an independent panel has been charged with putting age-limits on lessons and is due to report back in the autumn.