15 December 2005
Brook urges local authorities to protect young people’s rights to confidential sexual health advice
Local authorities need to make sure that guidance for professionals working with young people allows them to assess whether a young person they believe to be in a sexual relationship is at risk, rather than automatically assuming that police or social workers should be involved, Jan Barlow, Chief Executive of Brook, said today, commenting on a legal opinion published by Action on Rights for Children.
She warned that removing the right to confidential advice and services would deter young people from seeking help on sexual health issues, and urged Area Child Protection Committees to take account of the concerns highlighted in the legal opinion.
The opinion written by Stephen Grosz, a partner in London solicitors Bindmans, heavily criticises the protocols on working with sexually active young people recently adopted in Sheffield and London, which require professionals to breach confidentiality by informing the police about sexually active young people.
It states that the protocols:
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are likely to be in breach of the Human Rights Act;
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do not include adequate safeguards about access to the information held by different agencies, including the police;
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leave ‘little or no scope for the exercise of professional judgement’.
Jan Barlow said:
“Young people have told us that confidentiality is their top concern when they want advice about sex and relationships. That’s why Brook recently launched its Wise Up! campaign to promote and protect young people’s rights on sexual health.
“This legal opinion further strengthens the arguments for maintaining confidentiality for all young people, unless they are at risk of serious harm. I urge everyone responsible for child protection procedures to avoid any approach based on automatic referral to the police or other agencies. Many young people simply won’t ask for help if they think their privacy is not going to be respected. This leaves them at far greater risk of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and is likely to increase the risk of abusive or coercive relationships remaining hidden.”
A recent Brook survey of more than 700 young people aged under 25 found that:
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78% of all respondents and 91% of under-16s thought health professionals should not be allowed to tell anyone else about visits from under-16s.
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64% of young people and almost three quarters (74%) of those under 16 said they would be less likely to seek advice on issues such as contraception, pregnancy and STIs if they knew that health workers could pass on information about underage sexual activity to social workers.
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42% said it was never acceptable for a doctor or clinic to breach confidentiality by telling social workers about a young person. 35% said it would be acceptable in some circumstances. 23% did not know or did not answer this question.
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Of those who said it would be acceptable in some situations two thirds (66%) specified circumstances such as abuse, rape or other situations where a young person was at serious risk of harm.
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90% of all young people said it would be useful for young people to be given more information about their rights on sexual health.
The Government is shortly due to publish revised guidance for professionals working with young people. In response to consultation on Working Together to Safeguard Children a wide range of organisations, including Brook, encouraged the Government not to consider modelling the national guidance on the prescriptive approach already adopted in some areas.
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For further information call Catherine Evans on 0207 284 6047 or e-mail catherinee@brookcentres.org.uk
Notes to editors
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Brook is the country’s leading provider of free, confidential sexual health advice and contraception to young people under 25. The charity has 40 years’ experience of providing impartial and confidential sexual health advice and services to young people through a national network of 17 centres across the UK. Each year Brook provides more than 100,000 young people with professional advice from specially trained doctors, nurses, counsellors and outreach and information workers.
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More information about the Wise Up! campaign is available on the Brook website www.brook.org.uk
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More information about the legal opinion is available from Stephen Grosz at Bindman’s, tel 020 7833 4433 or Terri Dowty at Action on Rights for Children, tel 020 8558 9317.
