Scouts to receive guidance on sex

Members aged 14-18 will benefit from new educational material provided to their leaders.

Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: “This programme is about getting the right information to young people to help them make smart decisions about their relationships. We want to help young people become confident, clued up and aware. My message is – make your own mind up and don’t let others do it for you. We only get one body – so respect it – and people will respect you.”

The programme, My Body, My Choice, follows on from an initiative in 2008 in which the Scout Association introduced formal guidance for leaders who were asked about sex and relationships.

That opened up the possibility of trips to sexual health clinics and the distribution of condoms by leaders in special circumstances.

The UK has the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and teenage pregnancies in Europe, with STIs being most prevalent in under-25s.