Judicial Review: Public Child Protection (Wales) vs Welsh Government

Judicial review of new Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum for primary schools.

Nov 14, 2022

A parent group, Public Child Protection Wales (PCPW) is bringing a judicial review vs. Welsh Government (WG) of the new Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) mandatory curriculum for primary schools in Wales. Note: RSE was renamed from relationship and sex education (RSE) to align with United Nations International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) published in 2018. The case will be heard in Cardiff in front of The Honourable. Mrs Justice Steyn on 15 & 16 November.

Status

The application for Judicial Review by PCPW was granted in May. In August, PCPW made a last minute bid to halt the rollout of the curriculum but were unsuccessful. This was covered by by Tribunal Tweets.

The Judicial Review took place over two days, 15th & 16th November 2022, at the High Court in Cardiff, Wales before The Honorable, Mrs Justice Steyn.

Update 22 December 2022: Mrs Justice Steyn found in favour of Welsh Government. Here is a link to download the full judgement.

Live tweet threads

15 November morning - Paul Diamond, counsel for PCPW begins his submissions

15 November afternoon - Paul Diamond concludes and Counsel for WG began his submissions

16 November morning - Counsel for WG continues his submissions

16 November afternoon - Counsel for WG concludes and Paul Diamond for PCPW has right of reply

Abbreviations

J: Judge, the Honourable Mrs Justice Steyn

Petitioner -

PCPW: Public Child Protection (Wales), the petitioner. (four mothers and one father)

PD: Paul Diamond, Barrister for PCPW

C: the claimants: four mothers and one father

Respondent -

WG: Welsh Government /Senedd the respondent

RB: ‘Respondent’s barrister’ used to denote barrister for WG

WM: Welsh Ministers

Other:
RSE: Relationships and Sexuality Education
RSE Guid: Relationships and Sexuality Education in schools Guidance, issued February 2019
CSE: Comprehensive Sexuality Education
ACT 2021: Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021. RSE is mandatory (section 71)
UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
ITGSE: UNESCO published the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) in 2009 and a new version in 2018
2030 Agenda: The Global Education 2030 Agenda / Framework for Action

AFW: Advocates for Youth, members developed the new content added to ITSGE 2018
CEBI: Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, Oxford Uni, review informed new content for ITGSE 2018
PRUs: Pupil referral units
JR: Judicial Review
Def: Definition
SO: Sexual Orientation
SSS: Single Sex Spaces:
GD: Gender Dysphoria
GI: Gender Identity
RE: Religious Education
EHRC: Equality Human Rights Committee
EA: Equality Act 2010
PC: Protected Characteristic
GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation

Press Coverage

Here are links to a selection of relevant press coverage about the latest judicial review sought by Public Child Protection Wales. These links are included without comment and are not endorsed by Tribunal Tweets. This is a sample of coverage only, with most recent first - it is not comprehensive. Please DM our main Twitter account to submit coverage from an established news outlet. Any paywalled article must be archived.

BBC - Parents' legal bid to ban sex education in schools fails
(Please note that the last sentence in the BBC report is not correct, in actual fact, the dates of the 15 and 16 November were only arrived at, agreed upon by the parties on 31st August.)