The halving of teenage pregnancy rates over the last two decades is a tribute to the hard work of councils and their partners, in helping to improve the health, wellbeing and life chances of young people.
Responding to the latest ONS figures published today on teenage pregnancies in England and Wales for 2018, which shows that the conception rate for women under 18 has decreased for the eleventh year in a row, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“The halving of teenage pregnancy rates over the last two decades is a tribute to the hard work of councils and their partners, in helping to improve the health, wellbeing and life chances of young people.
“We need to build upon these achievements and tackle health inequalities in more deprived areas, which will make a difference not only to individual lives, but help reduce the long-term demand on health and social care services.
“This includes councils continuing to support young parents and ensuring children get the best start in life.
“With resources already stretched, rising demand in access to contraceptive services is continuing to push some councils to capacity which is not sustainable in the long-term.
“This is why we are urgently calling for the public health grant to be published as soon as possible, as well as for the upcoming Budget and Spending Review to be used to secure sustainable long-term funding for public health.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Conception rates for England and Wales for 2018, including for Under 18, are available
- In 2018 Public Health England (PHE) and the Local Government Association (LGA) published the 'Teenage pregnancy prevention framework' to support local areas to assess the effectiveness of teenage pregnancy prevention programmes.
- Supporting Young Parents publication