A former Cabinet Minister called for sex education to be made a compulsory subject in all schools during a House of Commons debate in July.
Maria Miller, the former Culture Secretary who steered the same sex marriage Bill through the Commons, is now Chairman of the Women and Equalities Committee.
Currently, primary schools are not required to teach sex education, but local authority-maintained secondary schools must do so. The Department for Education has said that it expects the same from secondary academies, including free schools.
Changed her mind
In a House of Commons debate, Miller said she had ‘changed her mind’ about compulsory sex education.
‘I have been very open that I felt that sex and relationship education should be something that is determined by a school.
‘But I think, as we move into this online world, the very real dangers and problems that children are encountering have certainly changed my views on the need to make that compulsory.’
Miller called for changes to the existing curriculum, adding that there should be ‘compulsorily delivered sex and relationship education in all of our schools’.
