Students join the growing debate

From the Echo, first published Friday 17th Oct 2003.

FOUR students from Bridport's Sir John Colfox School took part in an historic meeting of the county council's education committee this week.

Sixth formers Katy Stocker, Dewi Lambert, Hannah Linford and Doug Sheppard and representatives from five other Dorset schools debated the issue of making condoms available to young people aged 14 and above.

One of those who helped set up the meeting was West Dorset's senior youth worker Arthur Woodgate.

"This was the first time anything like this has happened," he said.

"The councillors were obviously impressed by what young people and professionals had to say and voted to support the motion pretty unanimously."

Members voted to adopt a scheme they hope will reduce the number of teenage pregnancies in the county, which are continuing to soar despite a drop in rates nationally.

The education committee voted to approve plans that would see youth workers giving out free condoms to teenagers.

Currently, youth workers are forbidden to give out contraception, although they are allowed to give practical advice The debate was part of Local Democracy Week, which has led to a flurry of activity between the county council's youth and community service at Bridport and the Sir John Colfox School.

The new school council met for the first time this week and was addressed by Mr Woodgate, who revealed plans for the reintroduction of the very successful Bridport youth assembly.

This had previously been responsible for the creation of the skatepark, the introduction of the ZEST! music project and the award-winning youth page in the News.

It was agreed that for the first time, representatives from the school council would be elected on to the town's youth assembly.

Mr Woodgate said: "The co-operation of the school has been absolutely brilliant."

On Friday, West Dorset MP and Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin will be holding a lunchtime meeting with the school council to discuss issues of democracy. Mr Woodgate said it was also hoped that local politicians would be taking part.

A residential event at the New Barn Centre, near Dorchester, will mark the end of the local youth and community service's input into Local Democracy Week.

Young people from youth clubs and projects in Beaminster, Bridport, Loders, Lyme Regis, Maiden Newton and Mosterton will be considering their relationships with their communities, examining perceptions, challenging stereotypes and identifying how they can become actively involved in local democracy.

Mr Woodgate said: "Since the theme of this year's week is Listening to Tomorrow's Voters Today, we have invited a number of local politicians to join us for part of Sunday to discuss what some 40 of tomorrow's voters think local democracy ought to be about - and what the realities might be."

Politicians attending include county councillors Sandra Brown and Gil Streets, town council leaders Charles Wild, from Bridport, and Janet Page, from Beaminster, chairman of West Dorset District Council Mary Penfold, and Green politician Leon Sea.

Members of Dorset County Council's education committee agreed to push ahead with the scheme to improve sexual health services for young people after hearing that the pilot scheme at Wimborne had been a success and that condoms were issued only after advice was given to the young people on a confidential one-to-one basis.

They were told that during the pilot scheme one child aged 12 asked for a condom but was refused access to the service and was instead offered other advice.

The committee also heard that during a three-month period from February to April this year 26 young people accessed the project and 189 condoms were issued - the standard issue was two condoms per visit.

The county council's cabinet will be asked to support the scheme and if they push ahead it will be phased in across the country.

Youth and community services manager Diane Evans said: "Each area will only get it once the youth workers have gone through the same training process and met the same stringent criteria as those involved in the pilot project." * What do you think of the proposal? Write to Postbag with your views.

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