§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what contact his Department has had with the publishers of magazines aimed at teenagers in the past two years. [40876]
§ Ms BlearsRoutine contacts between press and magazines are not recorded centrally by the Department's press office.
In the past two years my Department has worked in partnership with teenage magazines to highlight issues around teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and provide information about where young people may access further information and professional advice. Advertising has been placed in these magazines to enable those young people who are sexually active to have easy access to high quality contraceptive advice and to provide young people with information and advice to enable them to develop the skills to resist peer pressure to have early sex.
Last autumn, an agency contracted by the Department also contacted journalists at magazines aimed at teenagers to generate coverage for "Smokescreen", the Department's peer to peer youth tobacco education project.
In January, February and March 2001, as part of a campaign designed to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking during pregnancy amongst 16–24 year olds, advertising was placed in magazines aimed at a teenage audience.