Will morning after pill leave hangover?

Now, a former headteacher is threatening to take Bolton's health leaders to the House of Lords claiming they are failing the town's parents by encouraging children to have under-age sex. However, health experts say they are adopting policies which will drastically cut teenage pregnancies and prevent social exclusion. Health reporter, Gayle Evans, looks at the whole debate.

ALANDLORD can't serve a child a drink of alcohol and teachers can't give out a simple aspirin. We protect children in so many ways, except when it comes to sex education.

So says Bolton headteacher for 16 years, Eric Hester.

The Heaton grandfather of six, who campaigns to preserve traditional family values, says new policies adopted by Bolton's Teenage Pregnancy Unit are tearing apart families and alienating daughters from their mothers.

He is critical that pupils will soon be able to get the morning after pill from their school nurse -- without their parents knowing.

The 61-year-old claims this scheme is among many controversial policies adopted in Bolton's Teenage Pregnancy strategy without consulting parents.

Mr Hester, former chairman of the Bolton Association of Headteachers, said: "These policies are just not working and are hopelessly inefficient. Bolton has adopted failed policies that encourage young people to have under age sex.

"They prevent daughters from talking to their mothers and in some cases mothers, who are in general the best people to talk to about their child's welfare, do not even know if their child has had the morning after pill, which can be dangerous.

"These policies have not worked in the past, so why are they being adopted again?"

Mr Hester claimed the health authority breached democracy by not consulting parents about issues such as making the morning after pill available in schools without parental consent.

Bolton's Primary Care Trust, which took over from the now defunct Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, denies parents were being left out when it came to deciding on their children's welfare.

A PCT spokesman said: "Bolton, along with every other local authority area, has developed a 10-year strategy to tackle the problems associated with teenage pregnancy.

"The aims are to reduce the numbers of under 18 conceptions by 50 per cent by 2010 and to support teenage parents getting back into education and training.

"The strategies are a response to the 1999 report from the Social Exclusion Unit, which highlighted the link between high teenage pregnancy rates, poverty and social exclusion. The risk of becoming a teenage mother is almost 10 times higher for girls from poorer families, than those from the wealthiest."

The PCT says that far from being "limited and outdated", the strategies are based on the most up-to-date research and evidence.

A spokesman said: "Bolton's strategy has been developed by a partnership group which includes representatives from the Health Authority (now the Primary Care Trust), education, housing, social services, youth services and many other interested agencies.

"There has been extensive consultation with individual professionals, organisations, local communities and young people themselves."

But in answer to criticisms that offering contraception in schools is going too far, the PCT says: "The best evidence available shows that schools-based sex and relationship education can be effective in reducing teenage conceptions, especially when linked to access to contraceptive services.

"Of course parents are invaluable sources of guidance and information to young people but, in surveys, the vast majority also want schools to teach about sex and relationships.

"Schools wishing to develop the provision of sexual health services through the school nursing services, or in other ways, will only do so following the broadest of consultations with parents and the wider school community.

"A report from Ofsted on April 30 highlights a school-based service as an example of good practice."

Dr Kevin Snee, chief executive of the PCT, said 75 per cent of teenage pregnancies in Bolton were unplanned.

He said: "A review of international research shows that the provision of specialist youth contraceptive services increases the use of contraception without increasing sexual activity.

"In Bolton we have ambitious plans to develop a special Health Centre for Young People which will provide a range of health services including sexual health services.

"During the 1990s, when there was an increased attendance by under 16s at family planning clinics, the under 16s conception rate decreased by 10 per cent.

"During the same period there was no increase in sexual activity among under 16s."

Dr Snee also said it was important for parents to be involved in developing new services for children.

He added: "Research shows that those young people who can talk openly to their parents about sex and relationships are more likely to delay first sex and more likely to use contraception when they do become sexually active.

"However, because not all parents do find it easy to talk to their children, we want to develop strategies to help parents talk to their children about these sensitive issues."

Schemes to support young people who are already parents would prevent them and their children experiencing years of poverty and exclusion from education that would lead to further social exclusion.

"There is no evidence that entitlement to benefits or housing motivates young people to become teenage parents," Dr Snee said.

"The vast majority of people do want to see better services, better education, and a more open and honest attitude to sex and relationships. Young people overwhelmingly want to be armed with the information skills and support they need to make safe decisions about their lives."