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Children, Schools and Families Bill

My Lords, I feel like the boy who stood on the burning deck when all around had fled. I and so many others have campaigned for so long to give children their right to life-saving and life-enhancing education by making PSHE a statutory subject in schools. Now our young people have been betrayed by the old alliance of old parties—the "Labservatives". The Government and the official Opposition have conspired behind closed doors to drop all the provisions that would have given children the high quality PSHE for which they have long asked, which they deserve and to which they have a right under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is the most truly shocking betrayal of my political life. The Conservative Party asks the electorate to vote for change and yet there is not a tissue paper now between it and the Labour Party. There is no change there. The Government have shown no backbone. There is no determination to do the right thing for children, even with their dying breath. They do not deserve to be re-elected. All this is so unnecessary. If they had consulted with the Liberal Democrats, instead of just caving in to the wrong-headed prejudices of the Conservatives, we would have supported them in retaining these clauses. They did not do so; that was their mistake. It is one I hope they will not repeat in the weeks to come. Before I look at what these two old dinosaurs of political parties are joining together to throw away, I would like to speak to my Amendment 16 in this group. Subsections (8) and (9) to Clause 11 were inserted into the Bill at the last minute in another place, along with a whole lot of other changes, at the behest of some of the churches which do not want their schools to comply with the Bill. They were not properly debated so tonight I seek to remove them. According to the Minister in her reply at Second Reading: ""I reassure my noble friend Lady Blackstone and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, that the effect of the government amendment which was accepted in the other place is slight in practice"." In parentheses—I wonder why they bothered to put it in then. The noble Baroness continued: ""It simply puts beyond doubt something that we believe was already clear. All schools will still be under a duty to comply with the principles regarding accuracy, balance and diversity, as I have just described. Faith schools will still—as now—be able to teach pupils about the stance of their church".—[Official Report, 8/3/10; cols. 125-6.]" The Minister is wrong. If she really believes that, she has been well and truly conned. It is now clear that faith schools believe that their rights under subsections (8) and (9) override their obligations under the rest of the Bill. They are putting it about that this is a victory and they will not have to change their ways at all. They will be able to ignore the very sound and reasonable principles for teaching SRE in the Bill. This could affect teaching on homosexuality, sexual relationships outside marriage, abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage. The Government claim that all schools will have to teach the full curriculum and abide by the principles. This is not the case. Subsections (8) and (9) were seen as a great victory by the churches because the wording clearly means that these principles will not have to be followed. I do not believe this is really the Government’s intention so I hope that they will follow me into the lobby when I put this matter to the vote a little later. Let us now look at the wider issues of this set of amendments. The Government and the Conservatives are now seeking to delete Clauses 11, 12, 13 and 14—in other words, all the clauses about having compulsory PSHE in schools. PSHE is not just sex and relationship education—although much of the focus has been on that—it includes careers, business and economics, individual safety, personal finance, nutrition and physical activity, sex and relationships, emotional health and well-being, alcohol and other drug education. Effective PSHE education is well planned, well taught and is appropriate to the age, ability and needs of the learners. These subjects are so important to the life chances of children that they deserve their place in the national curriculum. I congratulated the Government on bringing them forward. Sir Alasdair Macdonald, who advised the Government, established that PSHE should be seen as a distinct subject with its own body of knowledge, understanding and skills. I shall be objecting to the deletion of each of these clauses. PSHE in secondary schools, and the subject called understanding physical development, health and well-being in primary schools, are desirable for six reasons. First, children, their parents and teachers want it. Research shows that they want opportunities to discuss issues that are relevant to their lives and their well-being, including emotions, relationships, health issues such as mental health, sexual health, diet and exercise. In a recent document circulated by Brook—better known as the Brook Advisory Centres—young people said why that is. "I didn’t have a clue before sexual health outreach workers came into my school. They gave me the knowledge I hold today", said a young man. "I only know what I know about sex through the internet. I can’t talk to my parents. I can’t be honest with my boyfriend and my sex education taught me nothing", said a 17 year-old girl. "My sex education was basically one science teacher, one lesson and a lot of giggling", said another young woman. I could go on, but I will not. The UK Parliament has collected nearly 22,000 signatures from young people demanding a right to good sex-and-relationship education. Making PSHE statutory will also provide a stronger framework for parents to be consulted, involved and engaged with what is taught. According to a Populus survey last October, 81 per cent of parents agreed that every child should attend sex-and-relationship education as part of the national curriculum.