Bishop Vincent Logan has already condemned the proposal as “simply not acceptable”.

The controversial plan, including a raft of recommendations aimed at improving the region’s appalling record on sexual health, was debated at today’s meeting of the board of NHS Tayside in King’s Cross Hospital, Dundee.

While there’s no doubt the document will cause a storm in Catholic circles, the Church’s position and attitude was not specifically a topic of debate.

After the meeting, it was put to NHS Tayside chief executive Professor Tony Wells that, given the Catholic Church’s “very moral stance” on condoms and birth control, they would be likely to have concerns about specific plans to provide condoms within walking distance of secondary schools, and to extend the availability of the morning after pill.

“I respect and understand that, but young people have to make informed choices,” said Professor Wells.

Earlier during the public meeting, members were left in no doubt of the massive pressures on young people today. Members were told that while Tayside no longer had the dubious title of the highest number of teenage conceptions in Scotland, it remained amongst the highest. The region still had the highest rate of abortions.

Councillor Lorraine Caddell, a member of the board, but more importantly, in this context, a mother of a 15-year-old son, said a lot of what was contained in the report was “alien to those of my generation”.

She said she did think that substance misuse was one of the areas that had “changed society’s attitude” to sexual activity and sexual health.

She said while local authorities, the NHS and the voluntary sector were all “looking in the same direction” to improve the situation, she was concerned about how they were “engaging young people”.

She said she would “love to know the solution”. “As the mother of a 15-year-old, I know it is very difficult for them. The pressures these young people are under are enormous.”

Dundee GP and board member Dr David Dorward said young people were “naturally risk-takers”. He “strongly suspected” the reasons for unplanned pregnancies in young people was partly due to ignorance, partly lack of knowledge as to whether an individual had the ability to say yes or no to sex, as well as drink and drugs playing a part.

He also pointed to Scotland’s “traditional Presbyterian society”, where the discussions that took place in homes and schools were very different from those that took place elsewhere in Europe.

“If young people are placed in a situation on a Friday night where they don’t have knowledge, then they don’t have power.

“If young people don’t feel they can discuss things with anybody in hospitals, schools, at The Corner (a young people’s information point in Dundee) or somebody like that, if they don’t feel they have the power to access any of it, then we will have achieved nothing.”

The board agreed the sexual health strategy will undergo a three-month public consultation to begin immediately. The strategy also recommends recruiting an additional consultant in genito- urinary medicine, and additional nursing staff to provide specialist services in local communities. There are proposals to extend screening for chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections.

Predictably, the Catholic church in Tayside has reacted with dismay at the health service’s proposals, saying there had been absolutely no consultations with head teachers, although there’s to be a three-month long public consultation to start immediately, writes James Rougvie.

Bishop Logan, the leader of the Catholic community in Tayside, said that, clearly, the church would have to meet with head teachers in their schools to consider the implications of the planned development.

“My first reaction is that it is simply not acceptable. Guidelines laid down by the Scottish Executive state that ‘education about sexuality and relationships should reflect the cultural, ethnic and religious influences within the home, the school and the community’.”

He added that the Executive had made it clear sex education should be provided within a comprehensive programme of personal, social and health education, and religious and moral education.

“This proposal by NHS Tayside, whereby free condoms are available to children, some of whom could be as young as 11, across the road from their schools, does not take that into account.

“In Catholic schools, our belief is that sex education should be given at appropriate stages, and built on a Christian understanding of the dignity of the whole human person.

“Sexuality is a gift from God, and a vitally important aspect of human personality.

“It is an integral part of a loving relationship.

“Young people must be helped to develop the understanding necessary to make moral choices, and to take responsibility for their actions.

“Simply handing out free condoms to them is not the way to help them grow into rounded, mature, responsible adults.”

n The Church of Scotland has given a cautious welcome to the proposals, although the Moderator of Dundee Presbytery James Wilson said he had some moral reservations.

“We do not have the same concerns as the Catholic Church, which are entirely legitimate, but we have to ask what is being achieved by having condoms so close to schools.

“We do not have a problem with contraception per se. Dundee and Tayside have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the country, and that has to be tackled in some way.

“But if you cannot persuade young people not to have sexual intercourse, the next best thing is to take adequate precautions.”

He said the church had to acknowledge what was being done by NHS Tayside, and he broadly welcomed the move.