§ Mr. ChisholmTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the Government's policy on HIV education in Scottish schools.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Government attach high priority to the provision of HIV education in schools. The school curriculum in Scotland is not statutorily prescribed and responsibility for the detailed curricular content, including that in relation to HIV education, rests with education authorities and individual head teachers.
The Government's policy is to encourage schools to tackle HIV education within a comprehensive programme of health and social education. This co-ordinated approach is designed to ensure that information about HIV is given not in isolation but as part of a programme that considers a number of issues relating to moral choices and healthy living.
To assist schools, national guidance is issued by the Scottish Office Education Department and the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum. Guidelines on health education were issued recently by the Scottish Office as part of the 5 to 14 programme on environmental studies. That gives health education a firm place in the curriculum and highlights AIDS as a key feature. In 475W addition, in 1992 the Scottish Office published a booklet entitled "HIV and AIDS: A Guide for the Educational Services in Scotland". This was distributed to all education authorities and schools in Scotland.