Examination of Witnesses (Questions 1040-1044)
THURSDAY 16 JANUARY 2003
MS NATALIE
STUART, MS
ANNA EAGLE,
MR JAY
BAILEY, MS
GEMMA MINTY,
MS RACHAEL
WARD AND
MR SCOTT
WILLIAMS
1040. Does that lead young people to have unprotected
sex, do you think, because they are encouraged to be sexually
active but there is not the information for when they do become
sexually active?
(Ms Eagle) And they can.
Dr Taylor: We have mentioned briefly the importance
or lack of importance of parents. What messages would you like
to send to people's parent, your parents, about talking to you
about sex or avoiding it? What are your views?
Chairman
1041. Let us make it parents in general rather
than their parents.
(Mr Williams) I was watching TV the other day and
there was a statistic on about 30% of girls get told off their
mothers about sex but only 10% of males get told off their fathers.
That is an issue, is it not, because that would also jump to men
not knowing about sex a lot and then we would have to go to the
all-male clinics and so on. If men do not know about it they will
just hear word of mouth and they will go out and try it, so I
think we need to make it knowledgeable.
1042. Do you think the people you have talked
to would have appreciated more discussion with their parents about
it?
(Ms Minty) Yes.
(Mr Williams) I do not think parents but with more
information, be it with parents, be it a leaflet, be it adverts.
You could have a better advert for a condom showing a man buying
his condom safely or a man pushing a pram, or saying, "Oh,
what have you got in your trolley?" "I have got a pack
of condoms", and not to feel ashamed for buying them; to
feel safe. It is just publicity again. It is all a lot of things
melded together.
Julia Drown
1043. Do you think through schools we could
try and encourage parents to do more to talk to their children
about sex, about STIs etc? Do you think that would be helpful?
(Ms Stuart) I think it depends what the parents are
like though. If you have some real hard Mum who all of a sudden
tries to talk to you about this stuff you are not going to want
to listen. I could always speak to my Mum so I never felt ashamed
to say anything to her if I did not understand something that
someone told me. I asked my Mum and she told me.
Andy Burnham
1044. So you all think the onus should not be
on parents? It is good if your parents will support what the schools
are doing but they should not be the ones primarily responsible?
Is that it?
(Ms Stuart) Yes.
Chairman: Can I thank you all for a brilliant
session. You have all been remarkably good witnesses—professionals,
in fact. We do appreciate your coming along and we look forward
to talking to you later on. Thank you very much.
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