Consultative Briefings

Consultative Briefings

Here you will find the latest consultative briefings produced by Voice for Justice UK that have been published online. We also offer free resources, available to download here and resources that are available to purchase – available here.

Draft Guidance for Gender Questioning Children and Young People in Schools and Colleges

DfE Consultation deadline  12 March 2024

The Department for Education (DfE) is consulting on matters concerning gender questioning children in schools and colleges. Draft guidance has been published and the general public are invited to comment on its content, which includes issues about: name changing, pronouns, single-sex spaces, toilets, changing rooms, boarding and residential accommodation, uniform, PE and sport and single-sex schools.

While VfJUK welcomes much of the draft guidance, we are concerned by the multiple loopholes within it, meaning that children will not be adequately protected. If the guidance remains unchanged, children will not be properly safeguarded. Social transition (name changing, etc) is often a precursor to medical transition, and therefore exposes children and young people to serious health risks and medical harms, some of which are irreversible.

Parents are the primary educators of their children. When their children are educated at school or college, parents trust these institutions to both educate and safeguard their children (‘in loco parentis’). All too often, decisions involving socially transitioning children are taken without parental knowledge or consent. It is unlawful for schools or colleges to usurp parental authority. It is also outside of the school or college remit to make professional decisions involving mental health. Parents must be fully trusted to exercise moral oversight for their children’s welfare.

There has been much confusion among schools in the contested area of gender and gender questioning children. Schools have often shown ignorance or disregard of the law and guidance, having wrongly encouraged children to transition, without parental knowledge and/or consent.

Parents must be fully informed and actively involved in cases affecting their children. Their concerns about protecting their children from transition must always be prioritised over decisions made by officials within the school/college.

VfJUK Overview:

Children and Transgenderism: What You Need to Know

 

VfJUK responses to DfE consultation on gender questioning children.

Government Survey

Draft guidance on gender questioning children

DfE’s summary of Draft Guidance

Inquiry into Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide

Call for evidence deadline: Friday 20th January 2023

The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee has launched an inquiry into assisted dying, also known as assisted suicide. Views received from the general public will be used to help inform the Committee in its future report, which will include recommendations for the Government.

In recent years, there have been multiple attempts in Westminster through Private Members’ Bills to legalise assisted suicide. This Select Committee, a cross party group of MPs, exists to scrutinise the Government’s health policy. It is crucial that your views are heard so that elderly and vulnerable people remain protected from State-sponsored killing. Select committees do not hold powers to change the law but their recommendations will be used to help shape future parliamentary debate when the issue inevitably returns to Parliament.

VfJUK Brief summary:

Inquiry into Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide – Call for evidence

VfJUK responses to Commons Health and Social Care Committee Questionnaire

Questionnaire from the Commons Health and Social Care Committee

Banning “Conversion Therapy”

Government Consultation | Deadline: Friday 4th Feb 2022

As part of a mix of civil and criminal measures, the Government plans to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’, an unhelpful, vague and indiscriminate term. It is the Government and LGBT activists who use this term pejoratively against the mental health practitioners who provide their services.

‘Conversion therapy’ practices may include professional or pastoral support for people who voluntarily seek counselling or therapy in relation to unwanted same sex attraction and/or behaviours, and tend to neither identify as ‘gay’ nor ‘lesbian’; it can also include people who experience conflicts over their gender identity but ultimately choose to identify with their birth sex and seek help. Ex-gays are fully protected by equality law, yet fail to be mentioned by name by the Government in their Consultation publication, even though they are one potential target group, whose freedoms would be restricted by the new proposed offences.

The new proposals include a blanket ban on “talking” conversion therapy for under 18s. While adults would not technically be barred from receiving help, the proposals include new offences that involve making it illegal for payment of ‘conversion therapy’ services, including advertising and promotion. The Government describes conversion therapy ‘practices’ as ‘abhorrent’, yet it also provides what appears to be token assurances that religious liberty will be protected, and parents will be able to bring up their children in accordance with their beliefs. However, these twin assurances account for a mere 87 words, from a Government text that covers over 5500 words. VfJUK understands that these militant Government proposals threaten to become one of the most serious attacks on religious liberty, and freedom more generally, to be seen in decades.

Please note that some of the documentation for this consultation refers to the old deadline of Dec 10th 2021. This has since been moved to Feb 4th 2022. 

VfJUK Briefing:

Banning “Conversion Therapy
– freedom and equality under grave threat

Read VFJUK’s suggested Responses

Government Consultation document

Government Questions

Home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation

Government Consultation | Deadline: 26 February 2021

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, emergency and temporary legislation was passed in March 2020, allowing women and girls for the first time to self-administer two abortion-inducing drugs at home. This covers abortions up to 10 weeks gestation (9 weeks and 6 days), otherwise known as early medical abortion, without the requirement of a physical examination, and the authorisation from two registered medical practitioners (RMPs). The pills are sent in the post, following a conversation with the woman or girl by phone or video link.

The Government is now consulting on whether to make the temporary Covid-19 measures permanent, whether they should be repealed immediately, or if they should only remain lawful for the minimum two-year duration of emergency provisions contained in the Coronavirus Act 2020.

Executive Summary of VfJUK Report:

DIY Abortions up to 10 Weeks:
What are the Legal and Medical Issues?

VfJUK Report:

DIY Abortions up to 10 Weeks:
What are the Legal and Medical Issues?

Consultation on home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation – Department of Health and Social Care

Consultation on home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation (click here for link) – Department of Health and Social Care

Read VFJUK’s suggested Responses

Imposing Ultra-liberal Abortion laws onto Northern Ireland: Putting Women and Unborn Children at Risk

UK Government Consultation | Deadline: 16 December

How do these dangerous plans impact the whole UK?

The Government’s plans for abortion regulations looks set to become more liberal than those already in place in England, Wales and Scotland. Evidence from the Government’s consultation document suggests a far more lenient, even cavalier approach to the limits and circumstances for a legal abortion. If the new legal regime is as liberal as anticipated, it will place the mental and physical health of women at risk. By implementing a relaxed legal system in Northern Ireland, it will set a precedent for the UK Parliament to amend the law accordingly for England and Wales, and for Scotland to follow suit.

On 22 October 2019, the UK Parliament passed the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 As one of its provisions, this Act decriminalises abortion in Northern Ireland by repealing sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Since 22 October, the Act has also put in place a moratorium on prosecutions related to abortion. The new law places a duty on the UK government to establish regulations covering abortion for Northern Ireland by 31 March 2020.

Voice for Justice UK produced its own briefing on this Consultation

Voice for Justice UK produced its own Briefing on responding to the Consultation

Government Consultation Document

Government Online Survey

Radical Plans to Abolish Parental Rights and Subject all Children, aged 3-16, to Compulsory Sexuality Education

Welsh Government Consultation | Deadline: 28 November

Why is this relevant to the whole UK?

Laws enacted in any one part of the UK set a precedent and will almost certainly be used by campaigners in the rest of the UK to press ahead for legal changes conforming with the newly inaugurated laws. Should the Welsh Government implement their proposals, this is capable of sending a message to the Westminster parliament for England to follow suit.

Citizens throughout the UK are invited to respond to the current consultation. The Welsh Government has not restricted eligible respondents to people living in Wales.

What is the Welsh Government proposing?

In a radical overhaul of the Welsh curriculum, the proposals include, among other things:

  • Abolishing parents’ rights to withdraw their children from Sex Education
  • Rebranding of Sex Education to Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)
  • RSE to be compulsory for all children, aged 3 to 16
  • Abolishing the rights of parents to withdraw their children from Religious Education
  • Rebranding of Religious Education with “Religions and Worldviews” thus providing a prominent platform for the study of Humanism and other Atheist values. (Government claims that these topics will be taught neutrally are unconvincing)
  • Changing the emphasis from age appropriate RSE, to developmentally appropriate RSE

Voice for Justice UK produced its own briefing on this Consultation

Voice for Justice UK produced its own Briefing on responding to the Consultation

Welsh Government Consultation Document

Welsh Government Online Survey

Children not in School

Government Consultation | April – June 2019

The Department for Education is consulting on proposals which include establishing a registration
scheme for parents who home-educate their children, requiring them to register with their local
authority, and also establishing a registration scheme maintained by local authorities, of children not
attending state-funded or registered independent schools.

The government states that it has no intention of altering the basic right of parents to home educate
their children. However, if the government’s registration proposals are implemented, there are
legitimate concerns this could lead a future government to take the further step of establishing a
system of mandatory state monitoring and oversight of educational content provided to home
educated children.

Currently, Ofsted, as HM State Inspectorate of Schools in England, has the role of inspecting school
standards, childcare, adoption and fostering agencies but does not oversee or inspect education
provided in the home. Ofsted does conduct periodic inspections of local authorities, which includes
reporting on how they implement their legal duties that relate to vulnerable children. Ofsted also
looks into how local authorities identify children who are not in receipt of a suitable education, and
the steps taken to tackle this problem.

This consultation follows an earlier consultation and call for evidence held by the Department for
Education in 2018. Some of the issues included were: registration of children who are home
educated; voluntary registration schemes run by some local authorities; monitoring by local
authorities of the suitability of home education; support for home educating families, what good
practice is, and the question of a duty on local authorities to provide support, if requested.

Voice for Justice UK produced its own briefing on this Consultation

Children not in school: Proposed Legislation Government Consultation

Government Online Survey

VfJUK Briefing, Home Educating Your Children – What Does the Law Say?

Elective Home Education: Call for Evidence 2018: Government Consultation Response

Counter-Extremism Commission

Call for Evidence | November 2018 – January 2019

In March 2018, the Home Office set up what is described as an independent Commission for Countering Extremism with the purpose of challenging “all forms of extremism” and advising the Government on “new policies to deal with extremism, including the need for new powers.” The Commission’s remit does not include a study of terrorism. The Commission recognises that definitions of “extremism” vary and that there is no legal definition in the UK.  In the Spring of 2019, the Commission intends to publish a study on “all forms of extremism” with reference to England and Wales.

The Government is to be applauded in their efforts to tackle and defeat ideologies peddling incitement to violence and murder, including the overthrow of democracy. However, there is a real and present danger that Bible believing Christians will be labelled ‘extremist’.

Public figures have already pointed to concerns about how law-abiding Christians are at risk of being caught by the vagueness of the term “extremism”.  Lord Evans, former head of MI5, wrote in 2015 when the Government sought to pass the Counter-Extremism Bill: “definitions will be crucial . . . One can imagine already the powers being used against harmless evangelical street preachers or the like, out of misplaced zeal and a desire to demonstrate that they are not directed against one religion alone”. In 2014, when extremism disruption orders were debated by parliament, the then Justice Minister, Dominic Raab, wrote that their broad powers could be abused; “Those engaged in passionate debates – such as Christians objecting to gay marriage – could find themselves slapped down.” In 2016, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, reportedly declared that he is an “extremist” according to the government definition, because faith could, in some cases, outweigh the rule of law, one of the fundamental British values which are taken as markers of integration. He noted that the government’s religious illiteracy meant it was unable to distinguish between groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and a “sort of conservative evangelical group in a Church of England church.”

Evidence in the public domain show how three members of the Commission hold divisive and dangerous views about Bible-believing Christians that disqualify them in these public roles, contrary to the Code of Conduct that obliges members of public bodies to be impartial. Where a member of a public body has a conflict of interest, such conflicts must be declared, and the individual must not participate in discussions or decisions where the interest suggests a danger of bias.

Voice for Justice UK produced its own Briefing document on this Call for Evidence

The Commission’s Terms of Reference

Voice for Justice UK has gathered evidence of serious anti-Christian bias of three Commission members

Reducing Family Conflict & Reform of the Legal Requirements for Divorce

Government Consultation | September – December 2018

The government is consulting on a radical and controversial overhaul of the law on divorce in England and Wales. One of the main reforms would be to allow divorce on mere notification of irretrievable breakdown by either one or both spouses, abolishing any need to provide evidence of fault, i.e., providing a legal reason why the marriage has broken down. This would make divorce into a purely administrative process where one spouse could in effect walk free of the marriage by notification.

When the reason for marriage breakdown is not legally needed as a condition for divorce, this is sometimes known as “no-fault” divorce. Other aspects of the proposed changes include abolishing the right of a spouse to contest a divorce. Of the consultation, the Government “seeks views on the detail of how best to change the law to reduce family conflict and strengthen family responsibility.” It claims this consultation marks its “commitment to strengthen support for children and families”. The argument that allowing no-fault divorce is somehow capable of strengthening families is deeply controversial, and we understand that such provision will weaken families and undermine the security of children.

The last major reform of divorce law took place nearly fifty years ago. The Government’s current proposals for no-fault divorce builds on an existing campaign pushed by The Times newspaper and Sir Paul Coleridge of the Marriage Foundation.

Voice for Justice UK produced its own Briefing document on this Consultation

The Ministry of Justice Consultation Document

Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education

Government Consultation | July – November 2018

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 placed a duty on the Education Secretary to make Relationships Education (RelEd) compulsory at primary school, and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory at secondary school. This duty would be accomplished through regulations (Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019). The 2017 Act further gave discretionary power to the Secretary of State for Education to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), or elements of it, compulsory in all schools.

The Department for Education had previously issued a Call for Evidence, when views were sought from organisations on subject content. The Government has said that these findings helped shape the form of the draft regulations, statutory guidance and regulatory impact assessment, which became the subject of the Consultation on RelEd and RSE, opened on 19 July 2018, closing on 7 November 2018.

The statutory draft guidance contains both the content to which schools will need to have regard in their delivery of RelEd, RSE and PSHE, and also the legal obligations falling on schools in their teaching of these three fields.

This Consultation sought views from all parties on the draft regulations and statutory guidance relating to RelEd and RSE and PSHE. It also sought opinions as to whether this guidance provided sufficient information and support to schools in the teaching these subjects.

The Department for Education has said it will consider the responses submitted to the consultation process when it finalises the draft regulations and statutory guidance. The Regulations will then be put before Parliament for final debate before implementation by Statutory Instrument, at which point the Department for Education will also publish its accompanying Guidance.

Voice for Justice UK produced its own Briefing document on this Consultation

The Department for Education Draft Guidance

The Draft Regulations

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