It has been announced that there is to be an inquiry into PSHE and SRE by the Hose of Commons Education Select Committee. The committee has asked for written submissions by 6th June 2014 on the following questions:

+ Whether PSHE ought to be statutory,either as part of the national curriculum or some other means of entitlement
+ Whether the current accountability system is sufficient to ensure that schools focus on PSHE
+To explore the quality of the overall provision of SRE in schools and the quality of its teaching , includung in primary schools and academies.
+ Whether recent Government steps to supplement the guidance on teaching about sex and relationships, including consent, abuse between teenagers and cyber bullying, are adequate.
+ How the effectiveness of SRE should be measured.

Hull and East Riding Labour LGBT+ Network welcome this inquiry and submitted our own evidence to the Inquiry affirming our support for mandatory PSHE, with updated LGBT-inclusive SRE in all schools. The Hull and East Riding LGBT Forum has done likewise. Let us hope the members are persuaded.

Just in the last few weeks we have had the HIV Positive 19 year old Luke Alexander write an Open Letter to Education Secretary, Michael Gove, saying that “the vast majority of young people have little or no common knowledge about HIV,” despite what is laid down in the national curriculum.

Luke’s concern was borne out in a 2011 survey by the Sex Education Forum, which showed that 1 in 4 young people learned little or nothing about HIV at school. Luke is accusing Gove of negligence in not ensuring adequate SRE throughout the education system.

Now we have the case of a former Hull schoolgirl who was raped at 14 and is petitioning David Cameron to make rape and sexual abuse awareness mandatory throughout the education system . We fully support her and wish her well. Her petition can be accessed via the Change.org website, and we urge you to sign it.

By Colin Livett.