Not all children taught about consent at school, and we have no compulsory sex education.

A survey of children and young people conducted by the Sex Education Forum, based at leading children’s charity the National Children’s Bureau, has found that almost one in three say they did not learn about consent at school.

Children and young people were even less likely to have learnt ‘what is good or bad in a relationship’; with only 43 per cent saying this had been covered in sex and relationships education classes at school, with many describing a complete absence of discussion about real-life relationship situations and what you would do ‘should something happen’.

Although findings showed that formal teaching about sexual consent was woefully lacking, many young people did demonstrate an understanding of the legal age of consent (96 per cent), and the law relating to sexual offences; with 93 per cent of respondents  recognising there could be female sex offenders and 84 per cent understanding that men could be victims of rape.

Despite this grasp of the law, the study revealed that a large proportion of young people are considerably less confident about where to get help when they need it; with 1 in 3 young people saying that they either ‘didn’t know’ or were ‘unsure’ where to get help if they were sexually assaulted and 4 in 10 unsure where to find their local sexual health clinic.

The survey results, released to coincide with the publication of a new resource for teachers on consent, showed that many young people did not know that under-16s are entitled to receive confidential contraceptive and STI treatment; with less than half confident that a 15 year-old could get a HIV test without a parent or carer being told, and only a third aware that a 14 year-old could get contraception confidentially.

Lucy Emmerson, coordinator of the Sex Education Forum, said: “This survey confirms that the quality of sex education children receive is a lottery.

“Young people are telling us very clearly that teaching is often too theoretical and fails to deal with the real-life practicalities of getting help and advice or building the skills for pleasurable, equal and safe relationships.

“Learning about consent is integral to good quality sex and relationships education and every school should have a planned programme which includes content on bodily boundaries, gender and power, caring for one another, feelings and emotions and how to get help and advice.

“We need to listen to the evidence and make high-quality sex and relationships education a guarantee across all schools.”

But peers recently rejected an amendment to the Children and Families Bill, which would have make sex education compulsory in state-funded primary and secondary schools by 209 to 142 votes.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Children’s Minister and Conservative MP Edward Timpson confirmed that Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education in England would remain a non-statutory subject.

This although the Children’s Commissioner has called for Relationships and Sex Education to be made compulsory to address boys’ harmful use of pornography and abuse.

The House of Lords voted No. The Department for Education then announced it would be working on “new advice produced by experts groups”, which will be emailed to all headteachers to use in conjunction with the existing teaching materials.

However, PHSE would remain a non-statutory subject.

So where does that leave us – and our children?

“We at Brook are disappointed but not deterred by the Lords’ vote against statutory SRE,” Brook’s chief executive Simon Blake said in a statement to PinkNews.

“Brook is working with the PSHE Association and the Sex Education Forum to provide updated supplementary advice to the government’s statutory guidance on SRE, which will be published shortly.

“We were however greatly heartened to hear so many peers stand up and argue for the critical importance of comprehensive SRE, which includes teaching about consent, online safety, same-sex relationships, and abusive relationships, in schools and colleges.

“In the longer term, we will not lose sight of our goal of making SRE statutory, which will help young people to make healthier choices around relationships and sex.