Government guidance on transgender policies in England schools has been delayed, despite it being promised before the start of the school summer holiday.
However, the equalities minister recently indicated that the guidance will require teachers to inform parents if a child questions their gender. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 16 July, Kemi Badenoch said the guidance will ensure parents know what is ‘going on with their children’ in school.
She said: ‘We are producing guidance for schools to know how to deal with children who are experiencing gender distress.’
Badenoch refused to go into specifics, but said: ‘There’s quite a lot of confusion about what the law says and it is important that parents are aware of what’s going on with their children and what’s happening to them at school, so what we’re doing is making sure we have robust guidance that’s going to be able to stand up to scrutiny. That will be coming shortly.’
She added: ‘The fact is that this is not a trivial thing; this is very different from sexual orientation and what is right is that parents know what is going on with their children at school.’
Days after the interview, education minister Gillian Keegan announced that the guidance would be delayed as part of it may be unlawful. It is understood new legislation may be required for an effective ban on social transitioning in school without parental consent. This is because under the Equality Act, gender reassignment is a protected characteristic, whatever the individual’s age.
John Denning, head of education at The Christian Institute called the delay ‘immensely disappointing’, adding: ‘While the government vacillates, children are left at the mercy of a wild west in schools, where misunderstandings of the law and disinformation in “advice” from groups with their own agenda advance to fill the vacuum.
‘Children are being harmed.’
