Committee slams ‘lack of consultation’ on new sex education provision in Northern Ireland

Concerns expressed include the prospect that procedures to allow parents to withdraw children from the classes "may not be fully developed" by the time the the revised teaching plan is introduced in the new year.

The concerns came to light in the report published by the cross-party House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee comments on changes made by the Relationships and Sexuality Education (NI) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

The new regulations make relationships and sexuality education – including prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion – compulsory for children in key stages 3 and 4 (ages 11 to 16) in NI.

When similar regulations were introduced in England, they were subject to a public consultation before implementation, the committee said.

Stormont’s education department said the Secretary of State “is under a statutory duty” to implement a recommendation of the UN's Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW), and added: “Therefore, on the 6 June, regulations to amend the Education (NI) Order 2006...were laid before Parliament”.

However, one human rights lawyer argued that Chris Heaton-Harris overstepped his mandate by imposing abortion education on Northern Ireland on "the dubious premise" that an unelected committee of UN civil servants said it must be done.

In a statement on Friday, the Lords committee raised a number of concerns, including "the lack of a public consultation prior to the Regulations coming into effect."

It said: "The Northern Ireland Office told the committee there was no legal requirement to conduct a consultation but that it had engaged with a range of stakeholders and statutory organisations. The report concludes that, given the controversial nature of this policy and the strong views expressed in submissions to the committee (including from a range of religious denominations), a full public consultation would have been appropriate.

"The report also points out that other comparable policy changes, including when similar regulations were introduced in England, were subject to a public consultation before implementation."

The committee also refers to the "timely implementation of the policy," and adds: "While the Regulations were laid by the NIO, much of the detailed implementation of the policy will fall to the NI Department of Education (DE). The Committee expresses concern that some aspects of the policy underpinning the Regulations, including procedures to allow parents to withdraw their children from sexuality education, may not be fully developed by the policy implementation date of 1 January 2024. The committee believes that this will be of considerable concern to parents in NI."

The statement concludes: “The report draws the Regulations to the attention of the House on the ground of a lack of public consultation and suggests that the House may wish to press the Minister to push back the implementation date of 1 January 2024 to allow a full consultation and to ensure the policy can be developed fully.”