Nadine Osman

Parents and guardians could be able to view Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lesson plans and other materials under a new law proposed by a Conservative MP.

Miriam Cates, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, introduced a ‘sex education transparency’ Private Members’ Bill on June 26.

It would impose a legal obligation on schools in England to share RSE lesson materials with parents and prohibit schools from using unpublished materials provided by a third-party source.

The proposed law comes amid an urgent review of the harmful and graphic sex-ed material being peddled to youngsters in schools.

The review, launched by Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is likely to propose changes to the curriculum following complaints from parents about the use of explicit material for young children.

Schools will also get film-style age ratings in a bid to protect children, as the Department for Education (DfE) has already announced.

The proposal comes after Clare Page, 47, lost a legal fight on June 13 to see the sex education lesson plan used at her daughter’s school.

The case involves a Freedom of Information request made by Page in December 2021 to Hatcham College, a secondary school in New Cross, south London.

In September 2021, Page’s daughter attended a relationships and sex education lesson at the school, which was delivered by an external provider, the School of Sexuality Education (SSE). Afterwards, Page had concerns about the content of the lesson, which she raised with Hatcham College.

During a meeting at the school, she saw some of the slides used in the session, which the school had obtained from SSE for this purpose. Page then submitted an FOI request for more information about the lesson, other lessons on relationships and sex, and the school’s involvement with SSE.

The school is part of an academy trust, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust, which supplied some of the material requested but withheld other material. Page complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which backed the trust’s refusal in a decision issued in September 2022.

A judge determined that the thirdparty provider’s financial interests exceeded the public interest in having the school send over the material.

In March, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan wrote to all schools, warning them not to keep parents in the dark about their sex education material.

Photo: Miriam Cates, MP, introduced a ‘sex education transparency’ Private Members’ Bill on June 26.
(Credit: David Woolfall/Parliament UK)