§ Lord StallardMy Lords, in the absence of the noble Earl, Lord Selkirk, and with the permission of the House, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order Paper.
§ Lord TordoffMy Lords, if the noble Lord the Leader of the House will excuse my intervention, the rule of the House is that unless one has the permission of the person who put the Question down, one is not entitled to ask the Question.
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Wakeham)My Lords, my understanding of the position is this. The Companion to the Standing Orders states:
If a Lord is absent when a Motion or Question standing in his name is due to be called and has not authorised another Lord to act on his behalf, the Motion or Question … may not be proceeded with that day",unless the unanimous leave of the House is granted. I believe that the noble Lord would be in order to ask the Question if the House unanimously agrees to it. For my part, I would agree.
§ Lord Stallard asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they are supporting the circulation of The Best Sex Guide, published by the Health Education Authority, to young people, particularly at pop concerts; and whether they have sanctioned the proposed publication of a further booklet entitled Your Pocket Guide to Sex.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)My Lords, the Government did not initiate The Best Sex Guide magazine. It was produced by the Health Education Authority in collaboration with BBC Radio 1 and was aimed at young people of 16 and over. The further booklet, Your Pocket Guide to Sex, is being produced by the Health Education Authority's own publishing company for retail distribution. The Department of Health has no part in its production or marketing.
§ Lord StallardMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that reply. I assume that she has read the document. Does she agree that the document promotes promiscuity, and is certainly an insult to women? Perhaps I may quote two short sentences which state:
The number of people you have sex with is much less important than how you have sex. If it's safer sex and you use a condom, you could screw hundreds of people and never come in contact with HIV".1424 I consider that insulting, to say the least, to women. We understand that the Government provide funds for the Health Education Authority. If the Government fund such stuff as this magazine, will they consider funding other material which encourages youngsters, particularly teenage girls, to say no to early sexual activity as a positive choice? I give one example. A video was recently produced and publicised in this House called "Make Love Last". Will the noble Baroness be prepared to consider recommending funding that video if it is in the same category?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, certainly we would consider funding any project that an organisation wanted to put to us. We are anxious to meet the targets that we have set in The Health of the Nation in order to reduce teenage pregnancies. If that were a way of doing so, we would wish to consider it.
§ The Earl of LauderdaleMy Lords, does my noble friend agree that the magazine is a glossy but degrading incitement to anti-family behaviour?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, I accept that the language used causes offence to many people. It is not a production that I would wish to have in my home. However, I believe that it is a magazine specifically targeted at young people who are already sexually active. It puts over the message very strongly that safer sex should be practised.
The magazine also mentions that sex is about affection, emotion and warmth. It also states that if you say yes to sex, it is not something to be done casually, or under pressure or to impress another person. Of course, sex is illegal for those under 16 years of age.
§ Lord KilmarnockMy Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that it is the rather difficult duty of the HEA to promote safer sex in accordance with government policy expressed in The Health of the Nation to reduce teenage pregnancies and to limit HIV infection? Is it not the case that the leaflet—I have it in my hand—is targeted at youth and student groups with whom it has been thoroughly researched? As the noble Baroness stated, it explicitly points out that sex under 16 years is illegal.
§ Baroness CumberlegeYes, my Lords, I believe that a lot of research was undertaken before the magazine was produced. However, I should like to say that the Government did not initiate this particular production, and I believe that if it had been shown to Ministers before it was produced, Ministers would have had some stringent comments to make.
§ Baroness BrigstockeMy Lords, I speak as a member of the Health Education Authority. Will the Minister agree that much as we, as an older generation well represented in your Lordships' House, may be shocked by the explicit language and direct approach of The Best Sex Guide, it is not written for us? It is directed and targeted towards a very vulnerable group in our society: teenage girls and boys who are already sexually active or determined to be so. Will the Minister further agree that the magazine uses the format and language 1425 which are based on serious research and which we know will appeal to the youngsters and get them to understand the importance of safer sex, including saying no?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, I agree. I think that the publication was not written for the generation of people who predominate in this House. Certainly, when I showed it to my husband he just said that it made him feel "so very old". But I believe that it will have an impact on some young people. If it leads to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and young people not ruining their lives and those of others by contracting HIV, it will have served a purpose.
§ The Earl of LauderdaleMy Lords, does my noble friend agree that one word which does not appear in the pamphlet is no?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, I believe that my noble friend is right; it does not say no, in terms of total abstinence. It says that if you say yes when you mean no or "I'm not sure", you run the risk of having sex when you are not ready for it. However, the Health Education Authority puts out other pamphlets which promote abstinence as a way of preventing unwanted pregnancies or HIV infection.
§ Baroness EllesMy Lords, can my noble friend give any indication as to the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies over the past two or three years? Will the Department of Health closely monitor the number of teenage pregnancies following the kind of publication which the Government now support?
§ Baroness CumberlegeYes, my Lords, we shall monitor them. As noble Lords will be aware from other debates that we have had in your Lordships' House, this country has a high rate of teenage pregnancies. Recent surveys show that 48 per cent. of 16 year-olds are sexually active, and 31 per cent of 16 year-olds claim that they have had a full sexual experience.
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonMy Lords, will the noble Baroness also confirm that the rate of HIV and AIDS infection in the country is rising most rapidly among young heterosexuals in precisely the age group that the magazine seeks to reach? As I understand it, about half the new HIV infections in the country are in people below the age of 26.
§ Baroness CumberlegeYes, my Lords, those figures are correct, and it is something that we must combat. In terms of HIV infection, this country has a good record in preventing it; but we have to keep changing the target areas. The noble Baroness is right, it is the younger generation we now need to target.
§ Lord Hailsham of Saint MaryleboneMy Lords, I fully accept what my noble friend says about unwanted pregnancies and other such matters. However, will she accept that some of us whose profession has brought them into close contact with the seamier side of life would say that sexual promiscuity was the high road to unhappiness? Should it not be part of the Government's responsibility to put that truth before the young?
§ Baroness CumberlegeYes, my Lords; but to some extent the Government have to take the world as it really is. The world is changing very fast. When one looks at what is on television and in the newspapers, very little is now left to the imagination. Because of that, some of the literature now published is much more explicit than your Lordships or, indeed, I would want. But that is the way in which one has to communicate with young people today.
§ Lord StallardMy Lords, finally, despite what has been said, it has been estimated in other surveys that slightly more than half the population of 16 year-olds look for something different from this booklet. They do not accept the politically correct angle that you have to go with the crowd because that is how life is. They do not accept that everyone has to indulge in filthy language because it is in the booklet. That is not what they want. They want something far more positive to support them in their attempts to tidy up the filth that is being peddled around now on the subject of sex and children.
§ Baroness CumberlegeYes, my Lords, I accept much of what the noble Lord said. However, just telling teenagers, however sternly, what they should or should not do is not effective. They need to be convinced and there are many ways of convincing them that promiscuity only leads to tragedy.