WILTSHIRE’S Police and Crime Commissioner has praised government plans to make sex and relationship education compulsory in schools.

Angus Macpherson spoke out in an open letter in January, calling for such measures to be taken.

The government announced last week that all children will be taught about safe and healthy relationships from the age of four.

Children will also, at an appropriate age, be taught about sex, however parents may opt their children out of these classes.

He said he was “very pleased” to hear the government’s plans, but said there was still work to be done.

“My view is young people in schools need to learn more than the three Rs,” he said.

“Children need a bit of life education, and sex and relationships are a part of that.

“There’s more they can learn and it’s a good it is going to be formerly recognised.”

Mr Macpherson says he hopes the plans will help reduce the risk of school children going on to commit abuse.

“I think anything you can do to alleviate the risk is good,” he said.

“We won’t know for some time if it removes the risk, but recognising it could reduce it is a great step forward.

“That’s what education is about, educating the whole person, not just for exams.”

In an interview with the BBC, the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, said: “At the moment, many schools teach sex and relationships education.

“But it's not mandatory, and, therefore, for many children, they are not coming out of our schools really being equipped to deal with the modern world or indeed be safe and protected from some of the very modern challenges that young people face on cyberbullying and sexting.

“What we're introducing today is mandatory relationships and sex education in all secondary schools, but also mandatory relationships education in primary schools as well.

“And, of course, all of this, it's important, is age-appropriate and, of course, it's also important to retain, for sex education, a parent's right to withdraw their child.”