Wow!

Over the last fifteen years or so I have seen some pretty grim use of statistics and reporting about sex and relationships education, the age of consent, youth sexuality and sexual health services. But over the past couple of days even I have said Wow this reporting of teenage pregnancy and the blatant use of shock tactics to overstate the problem of teenage pregnancy in this country is grim.

The government released, to The Sun, following an Freedom Of Information request, figures about the rates of pregnancy amongst 10-15 year olds between 2000 and 2007. The resulting headline focussed on the youngest children about whom data was released. Leaving aside for a minute the fact that the figures were mangled and presented an extremely inaccurate picture, I ask you to consider what anyone could hope to gain from a story about pregnant 10 year olds.

Of course it is not acceptable that even a single 10 year old has ever become pregnant. No sensible child, young person or adult wants that. It is particularly terrible because we are not talking about teenage pregnancy, ‘over sexualised’ children, or any other ‘Broken Britain’ indicator. We are talking about children who have been abused.

The abuse of children has been used to score a cheap point about teenage pregnancy rates and the government policy on teenage pregnancy. And be in no doubt that some journalists want to track down some of these children. Brook’s press office received calls yesterday asking our help in providing ‘case studies’ of pregnant 10 year olds.

This deliberate misrepresentation of facts, the sensationalising of the impact of sex and relationships education and misreporting of the truth about teenage pregnancy creates fear and misunderstanding that permeates throughout society and fails to protect children and young people. Brook carried out some research last year which showed that 95% of us seriously overestimate the numbers of young people who become pregnant. Small wonder, when some part of the media continue to insist on inaccurate scaremongering fronted as public interest journalism.

And for the record, most young people under the age of 16 do not have sex and our teenage conception rates have, overall, decreased by 10.5% since 1998. Higher numbers of young people having an abortion if they get pregnant, which means that overall we have about a 24% reduction in teenage births in England.

We need to build on this success and ensure that young people are only having sex when they are able to consent, enjoy and take responsibility for it, and we need to ensure that young people are able to use contraceptive services and contraception effectively when they do have sex.

The power of young voice

Last Thursday the Department of Health held a consultative conference on the future direction of sexual health policy - 'sexual health - worth thinking about'.

One of our young volunteers was invited to be on the panel of speakers at the conference. I was unable to attend the conference in the morning as I was at the NICE meeting on Personal, Social and Health Education. However, as soon as I arrived people started telling me what a brilliant job she had done. Sometimes adult compliments of young people's input can feel patronising, but it was clear this was not the case from the way they talked specifically about what she had said, not just that she had said something. I felt very proud that she was able to do such a good job in front of 400 skilled professionals working in sexual health - enough to make many people quake just thinking about it!

I also felt proud of my team at the national office who have created an office environment that works for the young people so that their volunteering experience is positive and productive for them and the organisation, and enabling such a positive platform for young people to be able to find the power of their voice and their influence.

We now have 10 young people developing their own campaigning work on sexual health. They are particularly interested in pressures. Over the coming months they are going to be taking their ideas and work out with the aim of influencing young people and the adults who work with them. Watch this space.

Brook's conference on March 4th

See the trailer for Brook's conference Boygirlmanwoman by clicking here http://www.youtube.com/user/BrookYP1964

Chlamydia screening Programme is a central plank in improving young people's sexual health

Today the Committee of Public Accounts Select Committee publish their report, Young people’s sexual health: the National Chlamydia Screening Programme. In response I have issued the following statement;

“There has been duplication of effort. The programme has not always been as efficient or effective as possible. It was clear from the National Audit Office report there is much to learn and much to do. The good news is that much is already underway to make improvements.

We support the PAC conclusion that better commissioning must take place. We must develop services that make sense for young people and get the best value for each pound spent. As such a national online testing service for all, regardless of where they live, should be commissioned as a matter of urgency.

We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. The National Chlamydia Screening Programme must continue so we can find and treat infections that would otherwise have gone undiagnosed. The programme is one plank, along with the teenage pregnancy strategy that will ensure continuing improvements in young people’s sexual health.'

The urgent thing now is to learn from history, from what has worked and from what has not worked to ensure the right balance of locally driven and locally determined responses, with national direction to reduce effort and duplication, ensure services are relevant and make sense to young people and ensure best value for money. Steps have already been taken by DH and NSCP to address many of the issues the PAC report raised and I look forward to doing all I can to help them.

Brook in Milton Keynes is 20 years old

Today was a very proud day for Brook. The Brook service in Milton Keynes was 20 years old and today they opened new premises. As I arrived for the launch, my first thought was wow - it was a bright entrance and Brook's logo proudly across the entrance. The building is not on the high street, and it is not down a back alley either. It seemed to be just the right balance - absolutely clear to young people that we respect their desire for somewhere discreet AND that sex is not something dirty and round the back, and sexual health services are there as an important part of the community.

I was asked to speak at the launch and as I was preparing to do so, I was remembering my early experiences of Brook at Milton Keynes over the last ten or fifteen years. My first was meeting one of Milton Keynes' earliest staff Sue on a training course when I had just started working with young people in sexual health. I had never heard anyone talk so passionately, fondly and warmly about young people before. I remember it now so clearly. It made a real impact. And it is what i have learnt over the past three years makes Brook people special in my eyes, and more importantly in the eyes of the hundreds of young people who trust Brook staff day in day out to help them, advise them and support them. The magic ingredient is genuine care.

Then as assessor for Milton Keynes Healthy Schools Programme I saw tremendous partnership working between Brook, Relate and Healthy Schools to get sex and relationships education on the agenda in schools. Respectful partnership working using the skills of the different partners to best effect. And then between appointment and start date I met my Chair for champagne (and lunch). He told me I needed to talk to Jackie because she was running an excellent service, and i needed to visit Brook in Milton Keynes because they had a model that was replicable and needed replicating. Lots. And over the last three and a half years I have seen excellent replicable work being done with boys, in c card scheme, in schools and healthy schools, in colleges, with the chlamydia screening programme and much much more within Milton Keynes. And as evidence of that brilliance, there were so many people from MK at the launch today, partners, stakeholders and supporters from both the statutory and voluntary sector. And over the last two years Brook in Milton Keynes has become Brook East of England as they have won contracts and set up services in Luton and Bedfordshire.

Back to the building, one of the things that really bothers me about many health service buildings is they are a bit dank and dingy, and in need of a bit of health promotion themselves. And in an increasingly consumerist society where you go to shops and get an experience rather than just a clothes rail, we need to make sure that health levels up to fashion or the best computer game store, otherwise we send a message, that four stripes on your shoe, or getting the new X box is more valuable than health, and that to me is a wrong message to give. And it is a message that this building, 624 South Fifth Street certainly isn't going to give young people.

As I said in my speech at the launch, I have no idea exactly who the people were involved in making this building happen, but it was a 7 year journey to get to there, and on behalf of all the young people who have used and will continue to use Brook's services in Milton Keynes thank you to each and every one of them.

Young mums speak out

A group of young mums challenge the stereopypes and are taking their message to the Prime Minister this week.

An article in the Independent on Sunday reports....

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/promiscuous-scroungers-or-living-parents-teenage-mums-fightback-1877268.html

Sexual violence, trafficking and rape

I have just watched some of Stag Weekends: the Dirty Secrets and if you didn't catch it I recommend watching it on BBC iPlayer. I thought Simon Boazman, the journalist investigating did a really good job - he remained calm, compassionate and clear, as well as fantastically human - as he interviewed a range of people including a woman who had been trafficked and forced into the sex trade, and a pimp. Uncomfortable viewing, but not something any of us can afford to stick our heads in the sand about.

The challenge for many of us is recognising this goes on, and not thinking about exploitation and trafficking as something that happens to others. Sexual exploitation is real in the UK. Each year far too many girls and boys are sexually exploited and forced into prostitution. Today Brook ran a training course for professionals called TEASE - telling everyone about sexual exploitation - based on the brilliant work done by Brook in Blackburn to address sexual exploitation.

Several years ago, Barnardos produced a pack for working with young people about sexual exploitation called 'things we don't talk about'. Today on the tube I noticed a new campaign from the NHS The Havens about rape. The advert pictures a young woman wearing a t-shirt saying wake up to rape and then the text - Michelle tells her friends everything, but explaining to them that she was raped isn't something she feels comfortable about.

For far too long, we have stuck our collective head in the sand about sexual violence. Thankfully programmes like this, done well, start the conversations.