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Teen pregnancy rates still high

by Emilene Coventry
5/ 3/2008

A REPORT on teenage pregnancies shows Tameside lagging behind other councils in tackling the problem.

Most authorities in the UK have seen the number of gymslip mums drop since 1998, but government figures show that overall in Tameside the rate jumped 1.4 per cent.

Eighty-nine per cent of local authorities managed to slash the number of under-18s falling pregnant between 1998 and 2006.

Tameside was one of just 15 that saw a rise overall, although numbers dropped between 2005 and 2006.

Families minister Beverley Hughes will be summoning town hall and health chiefs to find out what they are doing to combat the problem.

She said: "It’s time that the worst performing local authorities stop failing our young people and start applying our tried and tested guidance."

But Councillor Allison Gwynne, chair of Tameside Council’s children’s panel, said the latest figures showed a fall in the rate.

"Staff from all agencies have worked really hard to have an impact on local rates," she said.

In December the council appointed a teen pregnancy chief at a cost of £45,000 a year.

Councillor Gwynne added: "Since the visit from the teenage pregnancy national support team last summer we have taken even more steps to address the issue. We’ve learnt from other areas where teenage pregnancies have been reduced and have taken a number of measures to raise the aspirations of young people, improve sex and relationship education and improve access to contraception advice."

Melanie Sirotkin, Tameside and Glossop primary care trust’s director of public health, said the PCT was doing "everything it can".


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Most recent 2 of 4 user comments

   Well Victoria .... in reply to you ....... I must first of say that, yes some mistakes are made ... but .... if you view the figures and statistics behind this you WILL find that the vast majority of these Teenage pregnancies are actually "lifestyle choices" by the persons concerned !!, you only have to look in the Boroughs Town Centres during the day to view how widespread this really is !!! and .... yes there is a relation of mine that has made this choice a number of years ago, two children by different fathers and she is living a VERY comfortable lifestyle thanks to the taxes that I pay !!!! Enough is enough !!! We should follow the example of the USA here .... and stop paying extra benefits to these people when they have further children !!!, this would see a dramatic fall in the number of children within a one parent family when they realise that no more money is forthcoming !!!
Dennis the Menace, Hyde
15/03/2008 at 02:19
   Absolutely Dennis. These girls are obviously using their feminine wiles to talk the boys out of their condoms and into cahoots as part of a cleverly thought out plan to improve their situation and prospects in life. After all, kids never make mistakes, do they?
Victoria Wornell
6/03/2008 at 09:51
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