I recently met with a group of young people and Brook Charity to talk about the need for good quality sex and relationship education (SRE) and sexual health services.

All of the young people told me SRE was really important to them but that it is often treated as an ‘add on’ or sideline issue in schools, standards vary widely across the country, and the focus is usually on the mechanics and biological aspects of sex rather than relationships and vital issues like consent. They also said accessible, discrete and confidential sexual health services are crucial but not always available, and that waiting times are too long.

I’m really proud that Labour is championing better SRE and sexual health services, and that we have promised to update sex and relationship education for boys and girls and make it compulsory. You can read more about these issues here.