Statement from Brook on vote in House of Lords against amendment to make SRE statutory

Published: 29 January 2014

Last night (28 January 2014) the House of Lords voted 209 to 142 against the addition of Amendment 53ZAAA to the Children and Families Bill, which would have made comprehensive sex and relationships education (SRE) mandatory in all state-funded schools. Brook's Chief Executive Simon Blake OBE commented:

"We at Brook are disappointed but not deterred by the Lords' vote against statutory SRE. We were however greatly heartened to hear so many peers stand up and argue for the critical importance of comprehensive SRE, which includes teaching about consent, online safety, same sex relationships, and abusive relationships, in schools and colleges.

"Brook is working with the PSHE Association and the Sex Education Forum to provide updated supplementary advice to the government's statutory guidance on SRE, which will be published shortly. In the longer term, we will not lose sight of our goal of making SRE statutory, which will help young people to make healthier choices around relationships and sex."

For media enquiries please contact Brook's press office on 07789 682831 or email press@brook.org.uk

Notes to editors

Brook believes that young people should have access to great sexual health services and wellbeing support.

Brook provides free and confidential sexual health information, contraception, pregnancy testing, advice and counselling, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and education programmes, reaching nearly 235,000 young people nationwide every year.
 
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