My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 105, the purpose of which is to ensure that parents can discover what their children are being taught in school. They must have access, we say, to the materials deployed in class.
It arises because some commercial providers of materials in the sensitive field of RSE and health have tried to stop parents getting access to materials which they have provided for use in class. Requests to see material have been met with the assertion that it is protected and exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act by reason of commercial confidentiality. In other cases, copyright has been raised. In some instances, schools have simply refused point blank. That is what the amendment is aimed at.
The noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, who put his name to this amendment, regrets that he cannot speak because he is elsewhere on a prior engagement. On our side, we are grateful for the two meetings we have had with my noble friend the Minister and officials. They have been constructive; we have made progress and received an encouraging letter on Friday.
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I remind the House that in the foreword to the 2019 statutory guidance for RSE and health education, the Secretary of State wrote:
“We are clear that parents and carers are the prime educators for children for many of these matters.”
Later, the same guidance says:
“Schools should also ensure that, when they consult with parents, they provide examples of the resources that they plan to use as this can be reassuring for parents and enables them to continue the conversations started in class at home.”
That is where we start, but we need it to be met and we need to go further.
In some schools, I am sorry to say, ideological beliefs are being asserted in these lessons as though they were fact. Biological facts about sex are consciously confused. Novel ideological beliefs are asserted as fact when they plainly are not. We have provided my noble friend the Minister with alarming examples of this. Parents must be confident that what their children are taught in this area and others is factually correct, evidence-based and not misleading propaganda.
I understand that my noble friend will write a public letter to schools to explain that matters of copyright and confidentiality should not be raised as barriers to parents. We understand that the ministry is working on guidance on the specific topic of transgender issues. On our side, we are grateful for this, and for the indication that my noble friend will consult stakeholders to take this forward. As she knows, my concerns are not limited to the specific issue of RSE and health; the problem spreads wider—hence the terms of the amendment. On our side, we appreciate that schools are in a sensitive position on the front line of what are now called culture wars. There will be practical issues to address, but a way forward must be found. Parents must have access to and confidence in what their children are taught across the curriculum. Our amendment raises an important point of principle.
That said, I look forward to hearing in due course what my noble friend has to say.