3. What plans does the Cabinet Secretary have to improve sex and relationship education for pupils? OAQ51679

Thank you very much, Julie. I am committed to improving sex and relationship education in schools in a variety of ways. That is why I have given £50,000, for instance, to Welsh Women’s Aid to develop SRE resources. I am also considering how the recommendations of the SRE expert panel can inform plans to improve SRE delivery now and in the future.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that response, and I welcome the SRE expert panel report and look forward to its recommendations being put in place.

At the 'State of Child Health' in Wales launch last week, a group of young people were saying that their experience of SRE in schools is very patchy, and that, in some schools, it's very limited, especially in Catholic schools, and they raised the issue that nearly all the teachers delivering the subject are not specifically trained to do so. And, of course, we did have the Terrence Higgins Trust report in 2016, which said that the way it was taught was not inclusive at all and didn't talk about LGBT relationships, didn't talk about consent and didn't talk about gender identity.

So, how will the Cabinet Secretary address the wide variation of provision that there is at the moment? How will she address the fact that the teachers are not trained, and how will she ensure that this subject is much more inclusive in the future?

Thank you, Julie. Any Member who spends any time visiting children and asking them about their current experiences of education in PSE lessons will have heard a similar complaint. Currently, what we're delivering for children in terms of sex and relationship education is not what they want and is not equipping them, in many cases, with the information that they need. 

You're right to say that, in many cases, this is not about a lack of resources, but it's about, sometimes, a lack of confidence and understanding amongst some of the teaching workforce who are expected to deliver some of these lessons. I'm afraid to say that, with regard to inclusive sex and relationship education, there are still some professionals who are still very wary of talking about LGBT issues because of legislation from previous Governments in another place many decades ago, and that legacy, I'm afraid, is still with us in some of our schools.

I'm absolutely committed to using the expert panel to ensure that, going forward, we have sex and relationship education that is truly inclusive and will be delivered by a profession that feels well-equipped and confident in their ability to deliver those lessons. Crucially, the Member will be aware, Presiding Officer, that health and well-being is one of the six areas of learning and experience in our new curriculum, and we will, as a nation, have to develop the expertise of a new suite of professionals who will be in a position to deliver that new part of our curriculum. In years gone by, we've trained geography teachers and chemistry teachers and physics teachers, but this is an area of the curriculum where we haven't been able to create that specific career pathway, and I know that the curriculum will be the perfect nudge that we need to change that, going forward, so that children will have a better experience.

You will recall in the last Assembly the three opposition parties then worked together to secure concessions from the Welsh Government. We took them to the line over the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, and that included a commitment from the Welsh Government, alongside support from Peter Black from your party then and Jocelyn Davies from Plaid Cymru and myself, to involve stakeholders from the violence against women sector in developing the healthy relationship education in the curriculum to be followed by all schools.

During that time, I think both you and I referred to Hafan Cymru's Spectrum project to educate pupils in schools and train teachers in schools about healthy relationships. How, therefore, will you be giving your support to the campaign being launched by Hafan Cymru on 3 February regarding healthy relationships, as they say it will support vulnerable men, women and children, help them deal with loneliness and isolation through their Men's Sheds project and, critically, teach children about healthy relationships and domestic abuse through their Spectrum project?

Thank you, Mark. I want to take this opportunity to recognise your personal commitment to this agenda. You will have heard in my answer to Julie Morgan that I'm being as good as my word in opposition as I am in Government in the fact that we have given a grant to Welsh Women's Aid to help develop resources for schools with regard to what safe, respectful and nurturing relationships look like. And I'm glad that we have a variety of voluntary organisations that are willing to work alongside us on this agenda.

The health and well-being area of learning and experience working group that is looking to develop this is taking evidence and views from a wide range of stakeholders outside of the education system to inform their work. And, with regard to the Men's Sheds project, I'm very proud, in my Assembly Member capacity, to have a good working relationship with the shed in Knighton and the shed in Llandrindod Wells, which I officially opened, because I recognise that sometimes, for men, some of these issues around mental health and relationships, they find difficult to talk about. Men's Sheds, I think, is a very worthwhile project, creating that safe space for men to talk about some of these issues that the male stiff upper lip sometimes prevents them from talking about.