Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Con)

My Lords, I support my noble friend’s amendment but would like to speak to Amendment 502YE in the name of my noble friend Lady Barran. The Conservative Government published draft gender-questioning children guidance in December 2023, followed by a consultation which lasted until March 2024. The Government have now had well over a year to examine the guidance and the responses, but there is still no explanation as to why the response has been so delayed. Much of the draft guidance is a reassertion of existing requirements for schools. I will not go into that now—although I would like to—but what is being taught at the moment that is so contentious, and why are we are so keen to have the guidance confirmed? Here are a couple of examples. Stonewall tells primary schools: “Everyone has a gender identity. … This might be the same as the gender they were given as a baby, but it might not be”. EqualiTeach tells schools: “If a transgender young person wishes to change their name and pronouns, this must be respected”. Brook and Gendered Intelligence advise teachers: “Schools should support young people to use the facilities they wish to use”. This bad and confusing advice needs to be addressed. We were talking earlier about the well-being of children. One of the reasons why they are so confused and upset is that they do not understand what is going on. Groups supporting parents are still regularly contacted by distressed families who report a challenging and sometimes hostile response from schools when they raise their concerns about social transition. When parents request that schools take into account the Cass report, statutory safeguarding requirements and the Supreme Court judgment, they are met with claims that “no official guidance has yet been released”. By the time some families discover their child’s adoption of a trans identity, the school has already been fully complicit in encouraging the child in their new identity without the parent’s knowledge. Family relationships can be undermined, putting the child at high risk of estrangement. I have much else that I would like to say, but the crux of the matter is, why has the publication been so long delayed and will the Minister tell us what the Government’s plans are?