6. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: Relationships and Sexuality Education

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:25 pm on 22 May 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 5:25, 22 May 2018

You'll recall that at Stage 4 of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, your colleague Peter Black, Jocelyn Davies and I took the Government to the wire on healthy relationships education, and the assurances that we received then ensured that, hopefully—well, they contributed to the position that we're now in with your announcement today. Part of the evidence we all used at that time related to third-sector programmes, particularly Hafan Cymru's Spectrum project, which was being delivered in schools, delivering healthy relationships education through sessions to school pupils. I attended one of those and was very impressed by the incredible impact it had just within a couple of hours on a group of 15 and 16-year-old boys and girls—or young men and young women. But how are you going to ensure—and I hope you are—that projects such as this continue to be integrated into the programme as it goes forward and that this doesn't simply become an extra 'chore' for teachers or an extra statutory project to be accommodated within the wider curriculum delivery?