Treating Children as Children (P.14/2026): comments

STATES OF JERSEY

TREATING CHILDREN AS CHILDREN (P.14/2026) : COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 4th March 2026

by the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning

STATES GREFFE

2026  P.14 Com.(2)

COMMENTS

Introduction

The Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning rejects this proposition for the reasons detailed below and would urge all other Members to vote contre.

The Minister appreciates the Proposer's clarification that neither he nor the Women's Rights Network Jersey (WRNJ) are transphobic and their valuable recognition that a small number of children have gender dysphoria. It is important that all members of society recognise and accept that gender dysphoria is reality for some children.

Gender Dysphoria is defined by the National Health Service as:

"Gender dysphoria is a term that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.

This sense of unease or dissatisfaction may be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life."

Gender Dysphoria is defined in the Cass Review (referred to by the proposer) as:

"Diagnostic term used by health professionals and found in DSM-5 outlined above (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Gender dysphoria describes "a marked incongruence between one's experienced/ expressed gender and assigned gender of at least 6 months duration" which must be manifested by a number of criterion."

While the proposer confirms his recognition of gender dysphoria in children, this proposition and the document it supports appear to be largely dismissive of it.

Petition

The Proposer asserts the Minister was dismissive of the petition. The Minister rejected the petition request to revoke the current guidance, as it made a series of inaccurate claims which would have been easy to identify by anyone who had read the guidance. These inaccurate claims were refuted with evidence in the petition response which (for ease of all Members) can be read here:

Revoke trans guidance in schools until parents have been fully consulted - Petitions

The Existing Guidance

The Minister does not accept the WRNJ view of the existing guidance and Members will have received a large number of emails from constituents who also do not agree with the WRNJ or the Proposer.

The Minister has been overwhelmed by the many heartfelt emails which describe the negative effect this proposition has had just by being lodged, let alone the thought of it being accepted.

The Minister also  welcomes  Members  and fully supports the  Comments recently published by the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) on behalf of the Diversity Forum Sub Committee.

"Having  considered  the  matter,  the  Diversity  Forum  Sub-Committee  collectively indicates its support for CYPES' current inclusion guidance and urges members to reject Deputy Bailhache 's proposition"

The existing guidance was co-produced by CYPES working in collaboration with representatives from schools, parents and various agencies on the Island. It is an important resource for schools. It remains subject to ongoing and future review, with the wellbeing and welfare of children and young people at the forefront.

The existing guidance applies to staff in schools, both teaching and non-teaching, and is for their use only. It offers a guidance tool for schools to use at the point at which a child discloses to them their thoughts around their gender. This will be a very small proportion of the school population (as acknowledged by the Proposer), and most children and families will not be affected by the guidance or need to use this guidance.

The Proposer purports the guidance adopts an "activist script" by recognising and supporting some children who may have gender dysphoria, a condition he recognises. The Minister refutes this accusation.

Recent announcements in England

As Members are no doubt aware, in England the Department for Education (DfE) announced earlier this month a draft of its new guidance for genderquestioning children in England. They are planning to embed this guidance within their statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education document to be published on 1 September 2026, ready for their schools to apply from next academic year. CYPES officers are, and will continue to, monitor developments in England to explore whether best practice there can help update our own Jersey guidance.

Discrimination (Jersey) Law 2013 (DJL) The Proposer advises us that:

"sex' is a protected characteristic whereas gender' is not."

Members are recommended to refer to Schedule 1 of the Discrimination (Jersey) Law 2013 so they can be sure of all the protected characteristics enshrined in our legislation.

For ease they are listed below:

Race, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Reassignment, Pregnancy and Maternity, Age and Disability.

Gender Reassignment is defined in the Law as per below: Gender reassignment is a protected characteristic.

A person has the protected characteristic if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's gender by changing the  person's physiological or other attributes that are associated with a particular gender.

A person who has the protected characteristic is known as a transgender person and persons who share the characteristic are known as transgender people.

A person is a transgender person whether or not the person has or intends to have any medical intervention in order to change any attributes that are associated with a particular gender.

The Proposer is of course absolutely correct that gender is not a protected characteristic, and the Minister is confident he is also well aware that Gender Reassignment is.

Therefore, any person, who is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process for the purpose of reassigning their gender, whether or not they have had or intend to have any medical intervention in order to change gender attributes is, by definition  in  Jersey  legislation,  "transgender"  and  the  holder  of  the  protected characteristic."

The Minister fully supports schools in upholding the Discrimination Jersey Law and asserts  that  the  current  guidance  does  so  and  the  proposed  document  from  this proposition does not.

The Transgender Trend proposed document

At section 3.3 the document states that the term transgender' should not be used. This term is, however, explicitly used in the Discrimination (Jersey) Law (DJL) in reference to a person with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment'. Any policy that would reject the use of the term transgender' in reference to a child with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment could be said to be incompatible with the spirit of the DJL.

The European Convention on Human Rights (the "ECHR") forms part of Jersey's domestic law. Article 8 ECHR, the right to private life, encompasses gender-identity. Article 14 ECHR is the anti-discrimination provision and prohibits discrimination against  a  person  in  the  enjoyment  of  rights  guaranteed  under  the  ECHR.  It  is incompatible with the ECHR to interfere with a person's Article 8 ECHR right, or to discriminate against a person in a way that engages their Article 8 ECHR right to private life, without justification.

Refusing to allow a transgender student to use a different name/pronoun or clothing choice in the identified gender on the basis of the rights and freedoms of others, as those name/clothing choice do not ostensibly interfere with the rights and freedoms of others. This aspect of the document may raise compatibility issues with Article 14 ECHR in practice.

The document references Article 10 of the Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2022 as mandating engagement with parents in early help assessments to address complex needs holistically, ensuring safeguarding decisions are adult led and prioritize the child's well-being'. The Minister assumes this is an incorrect reference as Article 10 deals with the Responsible Ministers' duty to publish a 4 yearly report. There is a duty to consult with parents when preparing well-being assessments (Article 20) but there is equally a requirement to consult with the child. The Minister cannot locate anywhere where the Law requires that safeguarding decisions are adult led, although

ultimately adults determine the extent to which a child's wishes and feelings can be accommodated in a safeguarding context.

The Cass Review

The Cass Review is an Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and  Young  People  which  was  commissioned  by  NHS  England  to  make recommendations on the questions relating to the provision of these services as set out in the terms of reference.

The Review was cognisant of the broader cultural and societal debates relating to the rights of transgender people. It was not the role of the Review to take any position on the beliefs that underpin these debates. Rather, the Review was strictly focused on the clinical services provided to children and young people who seek help from the NHS to resolve their gender-related distress.

The Proposer purports that the Cass Review recommended "watchful waiting". The Minister has researched the Review thoroughly, the term "watchful waiting" only occurs 3 times in the Report, none of which are part of any recommendation. The proposition misinterprets "watchful waiting" as prohibiting all social transition. The Minister would welcome  clarity  from  the  Proposer  on  his  claim  of  what  the  Cass  Review "recommends".

Children's Rights

Members will have received a copy of a letter the Children's Commissioner for Jersey sent to the proposer on 9th February 2026. The Minister recommends that all Members read it thoroughly as an aid to this debate. The letter is copied in the Appendix below for ease.

In summary the Commissioner highlighted a range of issues with the proposition, the proposed document from Transgender Trend and the CRIA completed by the Proposer. The Commissioner recommended that the proposer should carry out a more thorough CRIA and amendments to the proposed document from Transgender Trend so it could more accurately reflect the Convention Rights.

The Proposer appears to have rejected the advice of the Commissioner and has decided to proceed without making any changes. The Minister prefers the Commissioner's expert assessment to that of the Proposer.

Safeguarding

Both  the  existing  guidance  and  the  proposition  emphasise  safeguarding  but operationalise it differently. The existing guidance promotes casebycase assessment, involvement of parents where safe, and nonmedical support in school; the proposition urges a uniform watchful waiting' stance and rejects schoolled social transition as an active intervention.'

Taken collectively, the Treating Children as Children proposition represents a narrow and sometimes inaccurate interpretation of each school's safeguarding duties as defined in Jersey's Keeping Children Safe in Education  (J-KCSIE).

Examples of such inaccuracies include: where the proposition treats all disclosures of gender questioning as safeguarding concerns, and where it treats toilet use as a blanket safeguarding breach contrary to casespecific requirements, and how it characterises pronoun changes as undue influence contrary to wellbeing guidance.

While the proposition correctly emphasises the centrality of safeguarding and the importance of parental engagement, it diverges from safeguarding guidance in key areas by:

• Treating identity-based disclosures as safeguarding concerns

• Limiting or rejecting the role of the child's voice

• Preferring uniform restrictions over case-by-case assessment

• Under recognising the vulnerability of gender questioning children

• Misinterpreting multi-agency and contextual decision-making duties

As a result, the proposal does not fully reflect the child-centred, proportionate, flexible and inclusive safeguarding model mandated by J-KCSIE.

Amendment

The proposer has lodged an amendment which still requires the Minister to replace the existing Trans Inclusion Guidance with the proposed document, but now subject to any minor modification that the Minister may deem appropriate.

The Minister does not consider the document to be suitable for use in schools with only minor modifications. The document contains too many flaws and inaccuracies, and an evidenced lack of consideration of Children's Rights and the ECHR that make it unworkable without wholescale revision.

The Minister's current guidance remains fit for purpose and as detailed above will be subject to future review and with continual monitoring of developments in England to explore whether best practice there can help update our own Jersey guidance.

Summary

The evidence provided above clearly shows that this proposition and the proposed document both contain many flaws and inaccuracies.

Children's Rights have not been considered fully, instead it has been done selectively to suit the Proposers agenda. Evidently no assessment of the engagement of ECHR has taken place.

It does not align to, and contradicts, current safeguarding advice and best practice.

The proposition wrongly characterises the existing guidance as keeping parents out; in fact,  the  existing  guidance  urges  working  closely  with  parents  by  default,  while recognising confidentiality and safeguarding exceptions.

While the proposer and his supporters say they recognise that some children will have gender dysphoria, they think it is acceptable to instruct all children not to use "wrong- sex pronouns" for either their fellow pupils or adults, a failure to recognise a protected characteristic in the DJL.

In contrast, the existing guidance's rationale offers inclusion, antibullying, and pastoral support on a casebycase basis with a principle of watchful waiting.

Appendix