Sex Education Forum Investigates Sexual Health Services In Further Education And Sixth Form Colleges, UK

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 20 Nov 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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A national survey from the Sex Education Forum (SEF) has found that thousands of young people on college campuses across England are receiving vital advice and help on their sexual health, but argues more needs to be done.

The survey, which covered the entirety of mainstream further education and sixth form colleges in England, found that more than two thirds of colleges provide onsite sexual health services. At a minimum, these services include providing young people with confidential advice, condoms and/or pregnancy testing. Nationally, 64 of these colleges provide specialised services that offer an even wider range of contraception options.

Easy access to contraceptive services has been found to be the single most important factor in reducing teenage conception rates in England. More than 700,000 young people aged 16-18 are currently enrolled in further education, and statistics show that the average age of first sex in England is 16. The SEF believes that providing high quality sexual health information and services during further education is particularly important, as this is clearly the time when many young people become sexually active.

Despite this, it was found that almost one third of colleges (106) do not provide any sort of sexual health services for their students, causing them to miss out on help and advice that can protect them from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Lucy Emmerson, Senior Development Officer, SEF, said:

'We are pleased to find that in the majority of colleges, students can get one-to-one expert advice on sex and relationships. It's imperative that young people get the help and support they need to make healthy choices in life and SEF strongly urges all colleges and local health providers to get good quality, onsite sexual health services up and running for the benefit of their students.'

Beverley Hughes, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families said:

'This report shows that the majority of FE colleges in England, working with their local PCTs, are now providing their students with quick and easy access to advice and support on contraception and sexual heath. This not only supports our efforts to accelerate progress on reducing teenage pregnancies, but also helps colleges' attendance and attainment rates. On-site services provide young people with quick and easy access to advice and support on issues that may be affecting their ability to learn, without having to take time out from college. They also help prevent young women from dropping out of college altogether, due to unplanned pregnancies.'

Dawn Primarolo - Minister of State for Public Health, said:

'Further education colleges can play a huge role in providing sexual health advice and help. We have allocated £1 million this year to support the expansion of contraception provision within further education as part of a wider £26.8m package of funding to improve contraceptive choices.

'As well as improving access to contraception, further education also has a key role to play in reducing sexually transmitted infections, particularly through providing chlamydia screening and wider health promotion messages'.

The SEF report is available at http://www.ncb.org.uk/sef

1. The Sex Education Forum is the national authority on sex and relationships education (SRE). We believe that good quality SRE is an entitlement for all children and young people and we are working with its 50 member organisations - including religious, children's, parents and governor, health and education organisations - to achieve this. 2. NCB promotes the voices, interests and well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives. As a membership and infrastructure support agency for the children's sector in England and Northern Ireland, NCB provides essential information on policy, research and best practice for our members and the members of our wide range of partnership bodies, which operate under our charitable status and are based in our London headquarters. For further information visit http://www.ncb.org.uk

Source
Clare Quarrell, Clare Lilley, Aoife Allen
http://www.ncb.org.uk