London, June 7 (ANI): Condom 'credit cards' will be issued to boys as young as 12 in a bid to cut teenage pregnancies and persuade boys to take greater responsibility for contraception.

The scheme will allow them to pick up free contraception at football grounds, barber's shops and scout huts, reports Times Online.

Condoms will be distributed at places where boys congregate, to spare them the embarrassment of visiting sexual health clinics or facing a shop assistant at a pharmacist's counter.

According to new government guidance, boys will be able to collect the condoms by showing a plastic card issued to them after they have attended a safe-sex lesson.

Boys who take advantage of the scheme will not have to give their names or answer questions about their sex lives.

The plastic cards are already used by some local authorities, but will be made available to all boys in Britain aged 13 and over after the guidance is published in the autumn.

The strategy is being drawn up for the Department for Children, Schools and Families by the Brook advisory service, which offers contraceptive advice to teenagers.

However, critics believe it will encourage children to be sexually active from a younger age. (ANI)