MIXED views have been voiced on how to tackle period poverty in Wrexham after it was revealed the issue is causing girls to miss school.

A poll of about 500 pupils and teachers has shown that more than a quarter of girls in the county’s secondary schools have taken days off because they cannot afford sanitary products.

A meeting of politicians was told there have been cases where youngsters have been forced to spend their dinner money on such items.

A cross-party group set up on Wrexham Council to examine the problem also discussed ‘heartbreaking’ examples of children using items of clothing instead of sanitary wear.

At a meeting on Thursday there was a debate about the group’s suggested solutions, which include installing shelves with free products in as many school toilets as possible.

It comes after the leader of a community group, which is running a pilot where free sanitary towels are handed out by selected staff and pupils from a private room, said she felt the shelves were likely to be vandalised.

Suzanne Nantcurvis from WINGS Wrexham said: “We do have reservations as to the focus on dispensing shelves because one of our aims was to take away the taboo of this subject.

“We feel the way in which we organise in Clywedog with WINGS ambassadors, whereby we’ve got girls in each year group to talk to other girls and take them to the WINGS box, it doesn’t require talking to an adult.

“I’m a little bit concerned and perhaps unclear how we will work alongside the provision of dispensing shelves.

“I know that in Ysgol Clywedog there’s lots of concerns about possible vandalism with dispensing shelves in toilets and the sustainability of such a way forward.”

The Welsh Government has made a limited amount of funding available to help provide sanitary products for schools and food banks.

In Wrexham, this amounts to approaching £29,000 of capital funding and revenue funding of just over £9,000 per year until 2020.

With the limited amount of money on offer, most councillors said they believed the shelves were the best way forward.

It follows the outcome of the survey which shows direct access to sanitary products is the preferred choice of most secondary school girls.

Cllr Carrie Harper, who chaired the group tasked with examining the issue, said: “Of all the task and finish groups I’ve been involved with on this council everyone, councillors and staff, were quite moved by some of the feedback we had on this issue.

“The dilemma of course is the feedback from the pupil survey where they have expressed a wish for direct access.

“We did accept there are potentially management issues around this.

“I accept it was not an ideal option, but in terms of the task and finish group, we decided that was the best way forward.”

Questions were raised over who would bear the cost if the shelves were damaged.

The meeting was told it would come directly out of each school’s budget.

Concerns were also expressed over how sustainable it would be to refill the shelves on regular basis.

Cllr John McCusker said: “Obviously it’s for a very good cause and for obvious reasons, but what concerns me is I feel it should be more linked to free school meals.

“How do you restrict the numbers because anything for free is going to walk. That’s what concerns me.”

However, despite the concerns, councillors voted in favour of moving forward with the idea to put the shelves with sanitary towels in all secondary schools and some primary schools.

Tampons would also be available on request from nominated staff in secondary schools.

They also agreed to continue to work with the WINGS scheme to provide free sanitary products for schools in the long term.

BLOB In a message on social media, Gwersyllt CP School Parent-Teacher Association said: "Recently there has been local media coverage about girls missing school/college due to not having access to sanitary products mainly due to the cost.

"If you know of anyone that is in need of sanitary products inbox NWNC (No Woman, No Cry) as they have packs to give away to those who are struggling to afford them/ access them in Wrexham."