MOVES to standardise how parents are informed about a free condom scheme in operation in Pembrokeshire secondary schools have been welcomed by a local county councillor.

Every secondary school in the county is signed up to the C-Card scheme - which allows students aged 14 or over to access free condoms and sexual health information, without needing parental consent.

But, following concerns raised by Hubberston county councillor Viv Stoddart that parents were not being fully informed about the scheme, Pembrokeshire County Council has issued guidance to suggesting a ‘standardised form of words to be used by schools in their brochures, websites etc. to describe the C-Card scheme’.

At present, Sir Thomas Picton, Milford Haven, Pembroke, Ysgol Bro Gwaun and Ysgol Dewi Sant all have information about the C-Card scheme on their website – although how easy this is to locate differs – and some schools also refer to it in their current prospectus.

But Tasker Milward School and Ysgol y Preseli make no mention of the scheme on their websites.

At a meeting of safeguarding overview and scrutiny at County Hall in April, councillors were told that the authority could only ‘encourage’ schools to use consistent wording when describing the scheme.

But, said Head of Schools Kate Evan-Hughes, if schools did not adopt the new wording, the county council would be asking why.

Cllr Stoddart said she welcomed the move, which would ‘provide greater transparency for parents and carers’, adding that she hope school governors would ‘take up the invitation to use a standard template’.

“Information from schools across the county has been inconsistent, and hasn’t always spelt out that under age children can be given condoms without the knowledge and consent of their parents,” said Cllr Stoddart.

“I have long been-concerned about this scheme, which provides condoms to 14 and 15-year-olds, despite the law deeming children under 16 to be too young and vulnerable to consent to sexual activity.”

She added: “It is my hope that, at a minimum, the standardised information on C -Cards will give parents a better understanding of how the scheme operates in their child’s secondary school.”

Since it started in 2008, the scheme has distributed more than 30,000 condoms to 14-25-year-olds through schools and youth projects.