You rightly highlight the need to raise the profile of the teenage pregnancy strategy ("Too much too young", 7 February) and the point about sex and healthy relationships education must be the key.
The Teenage Pregnancy Plans and the Sure Start delivery plans should inter-relate, as well as relate to the Health Improvement Programme and include joint targets. Sure Start and teenage pregnancy funding should be used together to support preventive and awareness-raising measures, which are not given high enough priority in the guidance.
In Westy Sure Start, we work with the teenage pregnancy co-ordinator and the school health service. One related project is a research exercise into how parents want sexual health and healthy relationships education to be dealt with.
There are many single parents in Sure Start areas and we must do what we can to help to remove any embarrassment or unease relating to issues such as mothers and their sons discussing such matters.
Richard Tipping
Programme manager
Westy Sure Start
Warrington
Double standards
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown makes some valid points about the reasons for the UK's high number of teenage pregnancies, but she is wrong on some points (Perspectives, 7 February).
She says that sex within marriage is the expectation in Asian society, especially for women, and that women would lose their honour if they succumbed to sexual desire before marriage. But does she not think that such double standards are discriminatory? Is she saying that the oppression of women is justified if it reduces teenage pregnancies?
The claim that soap operas make teenage motherhood seem "cool" also does not stand up. What about the heartache over her baby that EastEnders' Sonia suffered and the difficult life of Sarah Louise in Coronation Street?
While it is partly true that we cannot tackle casual teenage sex without also tackling drug and alcohol policies, there are other essential ingredients in this equation, which include teenagers' low self-esteem and lack of aspirations.
Louise Nesbitt
Bournemouth
Vetting supply teachers
We agree that the Amy Gehring case highlighted the lack of adequate vetting of supply teaching staff (News Analysis, 14 February). But surely it equally exposed the lack of awareness of new legislation on abuse of trust.
Section 3 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 would appear to have been designed for just such a case as this, given Amy Gehring's subsequent admission that she had sex with a 16-year-old pupil during her previous supply teaching placement.
The act aims to protect children and young people in school, in local authority care or in custody who might be vulnerable to sexual exploitation by adults who have a duty of care. It came into force in January 2001, but as of this week the Home Office had no recorded prosecutions under the new provisions.
We would urge the police and prosecuting authorities to make use of this extra protection for vulnerable children.
Roger Singleton
Chief executive, Barnardo's
What crisis?
The news that the government will not expect the new National Care Standards Commission to rigorously enforce the new regulations bodes ill for much-needed reform and investment in older people's services (News, page 10, 7 February).
The Social Policy Ageing and Information Network has again highlighted the chronic underfunding of social care (News, page 8, same issue).
In Wakefield, an adverse joint review report is being used to justify extensive commissioning from the private sector. The argument is that although our home care and residential homes are of high quality they are judged too expensive compared to a private sector unburdened by reasonable pay and conditions of service for its workforce.
The watering down of the regulatory regime will merely mask the lack of investment which remains the defining issue in social care provision.
Donal Mullally
Wakefield Unison
Progress in Wales
Keith Fletcher's article (Viewpoint, 31 January) lacked understanding of progress made in Wales.
For example, four regional social care partnerships for employers and training providers have been established. The initial response to job fairs has been very positive. A template to gather information has been developed with private, voluntary and statutory employers. Career information and promotional materials are being developed. Employers are considering future models for training social workers.
The Task and Finish group's work constitutes a new strategic basis for tackling the problem. There have been debates in the Welsh assembly about social care workforce issues and the adoption of the strategy. Only if social care in Wales is seen as one sector with one workforce, will the real problems be addressed.
Tony Garthwaite
Spokesperson on workforce issues, Welsh Association of Directors
of Social Services.
Graham Illingworth
Director, NCH Cymru.
Mario Kreft,
Head of policy, Care Forum Wales
Corrections
- The physical restraint technique, Price, mentioned in Reflections (14 February), was developed in the mid-1990s by Brian Nicholson, then at the Home Office, and other professionals in the care field, and not as stated in the article
- In our News Analysis article on justice for people with learning difficulties (24 January) we stated that in 1998 there were only three appropriate adult schemes in the country, in Portsmouth, Sheffield and Derby. In fact, Kent social services have run an appropriate adult scheme since 1993.