Children should receive compulsory sex and relationships lessons in primary school, MPs have said.

Youngsters have a right to information that will help to keep them healthy and safe and should be taught the subject throughout their schooling, according to the influential Commons education select committee.

In a new report, published this morning, it called for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) to be given statutory status in all of England's state primary and secondary schools to ensure that enough lesson time is devoted to the subject and teachers are properly trained.

Sex and relationships education (SRE) should be a 'core part' of these classes.

But the committee also said that parents should retain their right to withdrawn their children from lessons.

The recommendation comes amid continuing calls for sex education, and PSHE in general, to be given more importance in schools.

Campaigners have called for the subject to be mandatory, and a damning Ofsted report published in 2013 found that PSHE education was not up to scratch in two fifths of schools.

In its report, the result of an inquiry into the issue, the committee said that PSHE in schools appears to have worsened over time.

This situation would not be tolerated in other subjects, MPs warned, but the Government's plans for improving it are not good enough.

The latest official government guidance on SRE is 14 years old, and many people told the committee that the world is now very different, seeing changes such as the rise of social media, and new laws on same-sex marriages.

Some noted that increasingly easy access to pornography through the internet is shaping young people's behaviours - such as 'sexting' and fuelling the need to reassess PSHE.

Although ministers have taken action recently to improve PSHE and SRE, these are not enough to make a difference, the report suggested.

It warned: 'There is a mismatch between the priority that the government claims it gives to PSHE and the steps it has taken to improve the quality of teaching in the subject.'

Under the current system, primary schools do not have to provide sex and relationships lessons beyond what is covered in the science curriculum, while local council-run secondaries have to cover sexually transmitted diseases as part of science for 14-16-year-olds, the report noted.

Academies do not have to offer SRE, but if they do, must take into account the Government's guidance.

The report said: 'We accept the argument that statutory status is needed for PSHE, with relationships and sex education as a core part of it. In particular this will contribute to ensuring that appropriate curriculum time is devoted to the subject, to stimulating the demand for trained teachers, and to meeting safeguarding requirements.'

Surveys have found that the majority of parents and young people back compulsory lessons, the report said.

Committee chair Graham Stuart said: 'There is an overwhelming demand for statutory sex and relationships education - from teachers, parents and young people themselves. It's important that school leaders and governors take PSHE seriously and improve their provision by investing in training for teachers and putting PSHE lessons on the school timetable. Statutory status will help ensure all of this happens.'