The news has been welcomed by The NYA, which was one of a number of youth sector organisations that backed the Wise Up! campaign run by Brook, the sexual health charity for young people, to protect young people's right to confidentiality.
The court ruling means Department of Health guidelines - incorporating the Fraser guidelines developed in response to the "Gillick" ruling - can remain in place. In a survey published for the Wise Up! campaign, 91 per cent of respondents under 16 said health professionals should not be allowed to tell others about their visits.
Richard McKie, co-ordinator of The NYA's health-related Young People's Development Programme (YPDP), said: "Our consultations with young people recently show that confidentiality is by far the most important single issue for them when considering accessing advice services. This is good news that should reassure young people and youth and health workers that they can continue working as they have been.
"We are now awaiting further clarification to ensure that the development of amended child-protection protocols supports this right to confidentiality and that information on sexually active young people under 18 is not automatically passed to other authorities."
The document Youth Matters: Young people's views on the health issues raised in the DfES green paper can be accessed via the YPDP web site: www.nya.org.uk/ypdp.
