Mayor hails sex education victory

Greater Manchester Mayor Tony Lloyd

Plans to bring in compulsory sex and relationship education has been hailed a long-awaited victory for children and young people by Greater Manchester Mayor Tony Lloyd.

Mr Lloyd has welcomed Education Secretary Justine Greening’s announcement that sex and relationship education will be made compulsory in all schools, with the curriculum to include broader teaching around consent, healthy relationships and respect.

Mr Lloyd said: “This decision has been a long time coming, but I’m glad the government has finally listened to what campaigners, charities, politicians and, most importantly of all, young people themselves have been crying out for.

“In order to equip our children with the knowledge they need to safely navigate the modern world, it’s vital that frank and age-appropriate information is made available to them.

"Children will always be curious and it is important for us to feed that curiosity with appropriate and accurate information.

“The growing online world means that our children are more easily exposed to complex issues and vast swathes of inappropriate and inaccurate content. While children may be streets ahead when it comes to technology, some lack the emotional maturity needed to make safe decisions.

“It’s no longer adequate to simply teach children about the biology of their bodies – this does nothing to help them form healthy relationships, understand issues of consent, or deal with the dangers of sexting and online grooming.”

Mr Lloyd first wrote to the then Education Secretary Nicky Morgan on this issue back in March 2016, challenging the government’s rejection of MP’s calls to make sex education compulsory in schools. He has continued to apply this pressure throughout the last year, warning that the government’s "archaic attitudes to sex education were putting children at risk".

Last year, he made funding available for the rollout of ‘Real Love Rocks’ to schools across Greater Manchester - a suite of learning resources put together by Barnardo's to teach children about consent, healthy relationships and online safety.