Government failing on teen pregnancy target

Teenage pregnancy rates have dropped slightly in the last year but are still far short of the government target to halve the number of conceptions in this age group within the next five years, government statistics revealed today.

The number of girls between the ages of 15 and 17 who became pregnant during 2003 was 42,173, a rate of 42.3 pregnancies per 1,000 girls in that age group according to the National Statistics office.

This compares with 41,951 pregnancies in the same age group with a rate of 42.8 the previous year.

The district with the highest teenage pregnancy rate was the London borough of Lambeth where there were 104.9 pregnancies per 1,000 teenage girls.

Rates were also high in pockets across England and Wales with Blackpool having the second highest rate of 80.3 per 1,000 followed by Nottingham with 73.5.

The statistics put increasing pressure on the government to meet one of its key health targets to halve the number of teenage pregnancies by 2010.

The Department for Education and Skills, which is leading the government's drive, said today that it was "encouraged" that the trend in teenage pregnancy rates continued to fall.

A spokeswoman said: "The figures are going in the right direction but we cannot be complacent. Between 1998 and last year the overall rate of teenage pregnancies has reduced by 9.8%.

"We are looking at what more we can do to target our support."

Since last autumn the DfES has developed a "hot spot" strategy, with additional help for those electoral wards in England and Wales with the highest teenage pregnancy rates.

Extra help on offer to "hot spots" includes training more teachers in personal, social and health education as well as employing more school nurses and running parenting skills classes. The DfES was also looking at improving the training of midwives and health visitors after figures last year showed that a fifth of all births to mothers under the age of 18 were second pregnancies.

The spokeswoman said: "The issues around teenage pregnancy are highly complex. Education, attainment and non-attendance are highly correlated to teenager pregnancy rates.

"What we are trying to do is to keep young people in education to increase their life chances."