Transgender guidance for schools to be published in summer, says Sunak

Rishi Sunak has promised to publish transgender guidance for schools in the summer term after an investigation revealed that parents are often being kept in the dark when children self-declare their gender.

The Prime Minister said on Thursday he was “very concerned” about reports claiming 40 per cent of state secondary schools in England are allowing children to self-declare their gender without parental consent.

A Freedom of Information project by the Policy Exchange, a think tank, found that teachers affirming pupils’ uncertainty about their gender has become “embedded within the classroom, meaning secondary schools are effectively facilitating medical interventions on site”.

Speaking during a visit to the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Oxfordshire, Mr Sunak said: “For me, the safety and wellbeing of our children is of paramount importance, and I’ve also been clear that parents must be able to know what is being taught to their kids in school, especially on these sensitive areas.”

The Prime Minister said the Government would publish transgender guidance for schools in the summer term so they “know how to respond when children are asking them about gender”.

He added: “These are really sensitive areas – it’s important that we treat them sensitively and that parents know what’s going on, and we’ll make sure that that happens.”

Guidance delayed as timeline changed

Civil servants started working on the guidance last April, when Nadhim Zahawi was education secretary.

The Department for Education said it would be working with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to produce guidance that is as clear as possible for school leaders, who have described the issue as a “minefield”.

MPs warned that the Government needed to get guidance out for the autumn term, but progress stalled under a succession of new education secretaries.

Gillian Keegan, who has been in the post since October, said at the end of last year that guidance would be published for consultation in the New Year. Earlier this month, the department changed its timeline to “later this year”.

Downing Street was urged to intervene by MPs and peers on Thursday morning following the revelations in the Policy Exchange report.

Mr Zahawi said “urgent attention needs to be paid to the ways children are being impacted by gender identity beliefs”.

Mark Jenkinson, the Conservative MP for Workington, said: “We cannot erase the notion of biological sex. As a lawmaker and a father of two daughters, I call on the Government to act.”

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister ordered a review of sex education in schools, which has been blamed for enabling contested ideology to be taught in classrooms using resources created by partisan providers.

A Downing Street spokesman said Mrs Keegan would write to schools this week to make clear that parents “should have access to the materials that their children are being taught”.