Both are practices which go directly against the fundamental British values of tolerance and respect. (4/5)

The Department for Education has clarified a deleted tweet claiming that it’s “nonsense” to suggest that schools “must teach gay rights”.

It came after a report in the Sunday Times today suggested that the government would give Ofsted inspectors more powers to downgrade schools that fail to comply with the Equality Act, with a requirement to “actively promote” tolerance.

A tweet from the Department for Education – which is headed by Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan – dismissed the claims as “nonsense”.

It read: “Nonsense to say schools ‘must teach gay rights’. We want schools to teach broad curric based on British values.”

However, following several statements of condemnation from users on the social network, including from the President of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron, the tweet has since been deleted.

A series of follow-up tweets have now been issued to clarify the Department for Education’s stance:

Clarification @thesundaytimes: It is complete nonsense to say that schools are being forced to ‘teach gay rights’ against their will. (1/5) — DfE (@educationgovuk) November 2, 2014

The same goes for schools that do things like make girls sit separately at the back of the class. (3/5) — DfE (@educationgovuk) November 2, 2014 — DfE (@educationgovuk) November 2, 2014