Five Select Committee Chairs call on Government to establish statutory status for PSHE

Chairs of five Parliamentary Select Committees have written a joint letter to Education Secretary Justine Greening today calling on the Government to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) including sex and relationships education (SRE) a statutory subject in schools.

The five Chairs - three Conservative and two Labour MPs - expressed regret about Government failure to “seize the opportunity” to announce statutory status for PSHE in its response to the Women and Equalities Committee report into sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools, which included this measure as a key recommendation. The joint letter also urges the Education Secretary to give “serious thought” to making PSHE statutory to address the “lifelong consequences” for children and young people of patchy or inadequate access to PSHE and SRE.

Chairs of the Education Committee, the Women and Equalities Committee, the Home Affairs Committee, the Health Committee and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee have signed have co-signed the letter.

PSHE Association Chief Executive Jonathan Baggaley said:

“Today's call from five Select Committee Chairs highlights the considerable consequences of failing to act to make PSHE education a statutory subject. The letter follows a joint letter from four Committee Chairs back in January calling for action and since then there’s been no strengthening of status and PSHE provision continues to under threat in school. Thousands of children and young people are missing out on the education they need to stay healthy, safe and prepared for an increasingly complex world”