Schools to hand out contraceptives

Secondary schools will hand out free contraceptives to under-16s in an attempt to tackle teenage pregnancies.

Government ministers unveil the scheme today with a promise that head teachers can choose whether their schools take part. Condoms and contraceptive pills will be given away, with a doctor or nurse overseeing the confidential service. Under-16s will be offered contraceptives "where appropriate".

Education Secretary Estelle Morris will issue guidelines to schools in September.

The move follows a recommendation last December from the Government's independent advisory group on teenage pregnancy, chaired by Lady Tumim. It said too many teenage girls were falling pregnant because they lacked understanding of sex and contraception.

All secondary schools will be invited to join the scheme. It will operate under existing NHS guidelines which say that doctors can prescribe contraception or arrange abortions for under-16s without telling their parents.

There are two key safeguards. Doctors must ensure that their young patients understand advice on sex, and must encourage the youngsters to let their parents-know.

The rules, known as the Fraser Guidelines, were drawn up in 1985 after the Law Lords rejected a case brought by mother-of-10 Victoria Gillick, who fought a seven-year legal battle to try to ban doctors from prescribing the Pill to under-16s without parental consent.

Family campaigners condemned the plan and claimed it could encourage more under-age sex. Hugh McKinney of the National Family Campaign said: "Handing out condoms and teaching younger children about sex has done nothing to halt the rise in sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies. Why is it nobody seems prepared to tell children it is acceptable to say no to sex until they are older?"

A source at the Education Department said: "This is not about forcing schools to go down this route. It is up to governors and head teachers, but clearly we don't want this to be taken as a sign of encouraging anything that should not take place."

Under-16s are already entitled to free contraceptives and confidential advice from family doctors, but the Government's advisers argued that the service should be offered inside schools and youth clubs so that no one is left out.

One member of the advisory group, Simon Blake, said: "For some children, like those living in rural areas, it's not easy to get access to confidential advice. We have seen that open and honest communication demystifies sex and delays first intercourse."

Ministers have been considering further recommendations from the advisory group, including making sex education compulsory and making it easier for pregnant teenagers to have NHS-funded abortions. Health Department officials told MPs that one in three girls has sex before 16. The average age for both boys and girls to lose their virginity is now 16. Doctors are alarmed by a sharp increase in cases of sexually transmitted diseases.

Cathy Hamlyn, head of the Health Department's teenage pregnancy team, told the Commons health committee: "Fear campaigns are not going to work with young people of today. They do not appreciate being lectured."

Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in western Europe.