TEACHING unions have criticised methods to tackle teenage pregnancy in Southampton.

education officials believe that launching a condom credit-card scheme for children as young as 13 next week will condone under-age sex.

They believe condoms should be accessible but have branded the c-card scheme as a “fallacy”.

It means youngsters will be able to pick up batches of condoms across the city without their parents’ knowledge by flashing a card at 18 venues.

Ron Clooney, of the NASUWT, who has taught sex education in the past, also believes the character Charlie Condom used to promote the idea is gimmicky and silly.

Health bosses for the NHS will launch the scheme, open to 13 to 24-year-olds, on Tuesday in a bid to reduce teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually-transmitted infections following a successful pilot.

The cards are only given to children who have attended a five to ten-minute safe-sex risk assessment at designated clinics and drop-in sessions at school. It entitles the bearer to pick up unlimited batches of ten condoms over a six month period.

Mr Clooney said: “There is nothing wrong with having access to free condoms but there is a fine line between stopping teenage pregnancies and encouraging endless sexual activity under the age of 16.

“This method, where underage impressionable teenagers can get condoms so openly, condones the idea of under-age sex.

“Having a giant condom launching this is ridiculous. This needs to be treated as a serious subject. No amount of silly characters with condoms on their heads are going to cure the issue.”

Pete Sopowski, Southamp-ton’s representative of the teachers’ union NUT agreed that the scheme was gimmicky but said youngsters would experiment regardless of the card.

But he believes the important issue is the implication this scheme could have on teachers.

He said: “If I as a teacher handed out condoms to 13-year -olds I would find myself on some disciplinary charge. It needs to be approved by someone else. My concern is when parents complain, they will complain to the schools if that is where these cards were issued.”

Health chiefs said although the scheme is open to children as young as 13, it is specifically aimed at 16 and 17-year-olds.

Dr Ros Tolcher, chief officer of Solent Healthcare, said: “We do not promote sex to under-16s but recognise that a small minority of younger teenagers are sexually active and that we have a duty to protect them.

“I would like to reassure all parents and carers that the wellbeing of our young people is of the upmost importance.”

She said workers will not provide a young person with the card without a full risk assessment. She also defended using the characters to promote the scheme by saying “young people came up with the design concepts”. She added: “The condom characters were strongly favoured.”