Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 24 March 2009.

Children: Young Mothers

Question: My Lords, does the Minister agree about the importance of school nurses in relation to unwanted teenage pregnancies? In the Choosing Health White Paper, the Government set a target of 2010 for having a full-time school nurse for each cluster of primary schools and its related secondary. How are the Government getting on towards reaching that target? Are there enough nurses in the pipeline doing the specialist community public health nurse qualification for school nurses, so that we have enough for the future?

Answer: My Lords, as usual, the noble Baroness makes a very good point. I am answering this Question on behalf of my noble friend the DCSF Minister, and I do not have those figures in my brief. In the Department of Health, we are focusing on that, and I undertake to write to the noble Baroness with those detailed answers.

Secondary information