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Children, Schools and Families Bill

I realise that feelings are running very high among noble Lords who have spoken so far, but there is a real danger that in speaking with such strong feelings the case is being completely misrepresented. It is being suggested that by taking these clauses out we are denying young people access to personal, social and health education. It would be almost impossible to find a secondary school, and very rare to find a primary school, that does not teach personal, social and health education. The Bill would have put that on a statutory basis and would have put in a lot of detail about what PSHE should include, but because of the shortage of teachers trained in this subject, I do not think that it would have made any difference to what was given of quality. Many schools teach PSHE in a high-quality way. Many young people have excellent access to all the elements that are in the Bill. Other schools that are unable or unwilling to do it would not have been helped by the Bill because there was always a provision for schools of a religious or other nature to opt out. However strongly noble Lords feel, and I respect their feelings because I believe that PSHE has a useful place in any school’s organisation, it is important that we debate on the facts about what is being suggested and not on some imagination.