CUMBRIA’s former director of public health has called for action to stop young children being ‘robbed of the innocence of childhood’.

Professor John Ashton, now president of the Faculty of Public Health, called for a national debate on the protection of children, who he believes are being sexualised by society.

Mr Ashton said: “There is a massive sexualisation and pornogrification of childhood and adolescents, with clothing and access to pop DVDs for example.

“Youngsters in high school from the age of 11 will now go on their iPhones to view pornography. This is common knowledge from people who work with young people.

“There is a large proportion of under 16s sexually active — data indicates that between a quarter and a third of under 16s have had sex, and both pregnancy in young teenagers and infections in under- 16s is an issue.”

It was reported in national newspapers this week that Mr Ashton had proposed the age of consent for sex to be lowered from 16 to 15.

He said: “What I was in fact calling for was a debate to get a sense of public opinion about this and other matters. It is to be welcomed that this week the government is trying to do something with Google but it really is only a start.”

Technology giants Google and Microsoft announced that they are to introduce measures to wipe child abuse images and videos from the internet following pressure from the Government.

One of the most important aspects Mr Ashton said was education in schools about sex and relationships.

“The education is very variable and patchy. It is a specialist subject and teachers are not trained for this. Three years ago NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) published guidance on giving sex education in schools and it has not been implemented.

“I would like to see this happen.”

He added that adolescents should have somewhere to go where they could get the support they need, such as in Holland where there is a specialised network of centres.

“This would also mean that if young people are in contact with these services, and are being groomed by someone older, they have the opportunity to talk about it.”

Responding to headlines about age of consent, a spokesperson from No 10 Downing Street said: “The current age is in place to protect children and there are no plans to change it.”