PM vows schools will get guidance on trans children after Easter
RISHI Sunak has promised that schools will get longoverdue guidance on trans issues after easter amid fears that parents are being kept in the dark when their children say they want to change gender.
The Prime Minister pledged the advice would be published ‘for the summer term’ in the wake of a shock report that revealed teachers are allowing
‘We are taking decisive action’
pupils to ‘self-identify’ as the opposite sex as well as abandoning single-sex toilets and changing rooms.
Mr Sunak said he was ‘very concerned’ by the findings of the Policy exchange study while Sir Keir Starmer said it was ‘ understandable’ that ‘parents would want to know what is going on’.
As he vowed that head teachers would finally receive the guidance they and parents have been calling for, the PM said yesterday: ‘I’m very concerned about these reports. The safety and wellbeing of our children is of paramount importance.’
He said that controversial sex education lessons are already under review and went on: ‘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.’
However one of his Cabinet ministers said that schools should focus on teaching children to read and write – even though the concerns surround secondaries rather than primaries – rather than dealing with their personal problems.
energy Secretary Grant Shapps told Times Radio: ‘I just think what most parents want, myself included for my kids when they were at school, is a great education.
‘The more we can focus on the real bread and butter issues of making sure our kids leave school able to read, write, science and the rest of it I think all of that is where people are at.’
By contrast Labour’s leader – who previously claimed it was wrong to say only women can have a cervix – said he was concerned about what was happening in classrooms.
Sir Keir told reporters on the local election trail: ‘It is very concerning to see that different schools are doing different things, and I think parents would want to know what is going on.’
Their comments came after think-tank Policy exchange surveyed 154 secondary schools across england to find out how they dealt with the growing number of children who say they are in the wrong body.
Only 28 per cent of schools said they would inform parents straight away while 62 per cent said they would not.
However the UK’s data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, assures schools: ‘ You do not need consent to share a child’s data for safeguarding purposes.’
Policy exchange said that ‘ safeguarding principles are being routinely disregarded in many secondary schools, which are neglecting their safeguarding responsibilities in favour of a set of contested beliefs, in ways that risk jeopardising child wellbeing and safety’.
education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: ‘Policy exchange’s report is deeply concerning and further demonstrates why we are taking decisive action.’