Teenage pregnancy rates virtually unchanged in Medway

The rate of teenage pregnancy in the Medway unitary authority has fallen just 0.06% since 2001, according to the Office of National Statistics, despite apparent investment from the Labour government.

Two weeks ago, AlanWCollins revealed that 54 ten and eleven year-olds have fallen pregnant since 2002 and also that 300 girls aged 13 and under fall pregnant every year.

Today’s revelations were contained within statistics revealed by the Office of National Statistics, with both the Department for Children, Schools and Families and Department for Health claiming that they showed successful investment in various programs.

The DCSF, in particular, was claiming that teenage pregnancy rates are at their lowest for over 20 years.

Public Health Minister Gillian Merron said that “[i]t’s very encouraging to see that the teenage conception rate fell in 2008. The Government invested an additional ?26.8 million on promoting contraception last year and these figures show that our investment in this, and other measures, is paying off .”

However, AlanWCollins can today highlight today that the data presented for Medway shows little change on either the number of the rate of teenage girls falling pregnant.

Firstly, as graph A (below) shows, there has been a minimal steady increase in the number of girls falling pregnant in Medway, with 6 more girls falling pregnant in 2008 than in 2001.

Graph B (below) also shows a minimal average increase in the rate of teenage pregnancies in Medway between 2001 and 2008, with the data being presented as the number of girls per 1000 who have fallen pregnant.

It should also be noted that the statistics on graph B are representative of pregnancies in girls aged between 15 and 18. The rate of pregnancy in girls below the age of 15 has not been disclosed, suggesting a possible cover-up of more damning statistics.