§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action the Government have taken to encourage sexual education for young people outside secondary schools. [130288]
§ Jacqui SmithAcross Whitehall there are a number of programmes which address health education for young people outside secondary schools. My Department, for instance, supports the work of some 80 national voluntary youth organisations through a scheme of grants worth432W £12 million over the three years 1999–2002. These grants promote the provision of planned programmes of informal personal and social education for young people through a diverse range of projects, many of which address health education issues.
For those young people in secondary schools, we recently published our Sex and Relationship Education guidance which sets out how schools can work in partnership with members of the wider community when planning and delivering sex and relationship education. The Department of Health will be issuing guidance to health authorities to make it clear that any materials they develop for use in schools must be in line with the DfEE guidance.