There has been some inaccurate information on how my colleagues on Aberdeenshire Council’s education and children’s services committee voted yesterday on a policy paper on period poverty.
Our schools already provide free sanitary products. This vote will make sure that they have uniform access across all of our schools and that young women know that.
It is my understanding – I am not on the committee – that administration councillors voted for the policy copied below, which maintains the free service in all schools.
“Schools continue to provide sanitary products to pupils at no cost to pupils.
“Guidance would be developed to support schools to enable young people to easily and readily access sanitary products at no cost in school establishments.
“This guidance would include recommendations for schools to provide free products and remove any barriers that may currently exist in accessing these products (such as having to ask a member of staff) in both primary and secondary schools.
“This guidance would assist schools in reviewing and where appropriate, amending any existing approaches that are currently in use to become more formal, clear and consistent across Aberdeenshire.
“Strengths:
Continues current local arrangements to meet needs identified locally
Addresses removal of barriers through guidance
No additional cost to schools or Service.”
A number of headteachers had been contacted and they had no issues with the current arrangements. If a pupil was regularly asking for sanitary products then this might help pinpoint a welfare or poverty issue, which they would not necessarily know about if there were a dispenser.
Concerns were expressed at the committee meeting over the use of dispensing machines – possibility of bullying of anyone using it, and misuse of products by those who don’t need them. Another issue is that a lot of new-build schools have unisex toilets – separate sides for the actual toilets but shared wash basin facilities which is where dispensers would be placed. There is also the issue of transgender pupils.
The cost of installing dispensing machines and the provision of sanitary products in secondary and special schools would be £60,480 a year. To extend it to include primary schools would be £498,240 a year. This was option 3.
According to the Press and Journal today the author of the report tabled at the meeting, Audrey Hendry, said: “The vote was essentially about how we distribute the products – not if they are available or not.”
The next steps will be to make sure all young women know free products are available in schools and how to access them easily.
You can read the full report on this link (scroll down to item 10) and judge for yourself: http://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=494&meetid=18749