Like its pledge to focus
on "education, education, education",
and its vow to be
"tough on crime
and tough on the causes of crime",
another promise the Government
probably wishes
it had never made
was back in 1999:
to halve teen pregnancies by 2010.
Better sex education,
both in and out of schools,
with improved access to contraception,
was the means to this end.
Sadly, the blind faith
placed in money, latex and chemistry,
with no questions asked,
has let everyone down.
Despite the hundreds of millions spent,
the squads of co-ordinators put in place,
the toe-curlingly explicit adverts
for contraception plastered
on the walls of waiting rooms
and school hallways,
there is no hope of meeting
the 2010 target.
The Government failed even
to hit an interim aim
of reducing the rate
by 15 per cent by 2004
and we learnt yesterday
that pregnancy figures
are rising again.
Britain now has the highest birth-rate
for under-16s in western Europe.
In some areas,
nearly one in every 50 schoolgirls
aged 13 to 15
is getting pregnant.
The Government's response is
that it "knows what works"
and that existing sex education programmes
are going in the right direction.
The problem, according to Beverley Hughes,
Minister for Children,
Young People and Families,
is that they are just
not being implemented properly.
As a result,
the state and sex education industry
has decided
not to change tack,
but to promote the existing agenda
more aggressively
by making lessons a statutory requirement
for children from the age of five.
This was the conclusion
of the Government's Sex and Relationship Education (SRE)
steering panel (packed with children's rights campaigners)
which reported last October.
But where is the evidence
that what they termed
"high-quality sex education"
was having a positive effect?
I've combed the reports
and found nothing to back up
the "get them early" conclusion;
nothing about the virtues of sex education
from five;
no evidence that burgeoning school clinics
and condom handouts cut pregnancies.
No.
If you want to cut the rates of births,
pregnancies and STDs,
you target and cut down the sex
that is a necessary and sufficient cause.
The abstinence-oriented approach
has worked in America
where effective programmes
emphasise behavioural goals
and send out messages
about expected conduct.
They have seen a 36 per cent drop
in the teenage birthrate.
But our Government is unable
to sign up to this.
Our sex education programmes
are explicitly "non-judgmental".
From its inception in 1999,
the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy
firmly ruled out any constraint
on sexual conduct.
The prospect of discouraging,
let alone stigmatising,
early sexual activity
is viewed as abhorrent,
and increasing tolerance is a strategic objective.
Instead we are providing
a "confidential and non-judgmental
[contraceptive and abortion] service"
to youngsters who are,
effectively,
choosing when they want to become sexually active.
Because government has bought the line
that sex is inevitable,
children are being taught how to say "Yes".
The SRE concluded that young people
must be given an opportunity
to form relationships
and express their feelings safely.
To the end of child sexual empowerment,
youngsters must now be involved
in the design of schools' sex education programmes.
At the same time,
parents are not allowed
to speak for themselves
and any residual power
they might have over the curriculum
is to be swept away.
There is no magic bullet
to change adolescent sexual behaviour.
Lasting progress requires broader efforts
to influence values and culture,
to change the economic incentives that face teens,
and to engage parents.
If research indicates anything,
then it is how influential parents are
when it comes to their children's sexual behaviour.
If step one is to cut down
on the early sex,
then those best placed to make
the programme succeed are parents
– the front-line troops.
Parental attitudes count a lot.
Parental example counts a lot.
Why has the state forgotten this?
Not long ago
parents were seen as the primary agents of socialisation.
As collectivisation of child rearing
has gained ground,
parents are sidelined as public institutions monopolise
the supervision of human development
and emotional wellbeing,
while retreating from their erstwhile function
as transmitters of an objective body of knowledge.
The state is poisoning
relationships between children and parents.
This alone will ensure
that any attempt to reduce teenage pregnancy
will end in failure.
Another £20.5 million
just announced by the Department for Children
for more condom machines
will just fuel the tide
of sexual incontinence
and its unfortunate by-products
– babies, disease and regret.
Along with its promises,
the Government continues
to break our society.