The Regional Teenage Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy within the North East. The main responsibilities of the role consist of:
- policy and practice co-ordination
- performance assessment of local teenage pregnancy partnerships
- budget management
- the co-ordination of regional pieces of work that support the improvement of young people's outcomes.
Current objectives for 2008-09 include:
- an evaluation of programmes that raise aspirations in young people
- embedding social norms approaches in the North East
- supporting the roll-out of the Department of Health's You're Welcome programme across the region.
The 10-year Teenage Pregnancy Strategy has two main goals:
- To halve the rate of conceptions among under-18s by 2010 and establish a firmly downward trend in conceptions to under-16s.
- To increase the number of teenage parents in education, training or employment, to reduce their risk of long-term social exclusion with a target of 60 per cent participation by 2010.
The Teenage Pregnancy Unit is based within the Department for Children, Schools and Families leads on the strategy nationally, with a Regional Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator based in each government office.
Each of the 12 local authorities with responsibility for children's services within the North East has a strategic Teenage Pregnancy partnership board and a local Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator responsible for implementing and monitoring progress towards national targets.
Since the launch of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1999, steady progress has been made overall on reducing under-18 and under-16 conception rates, to the point where both are now at their lowest level for 20 years. But UK rates are still much higher than comparable European Union countries and are set out in the public service agreement and local development plan trajectories we need to accelerate progress if we are to achieve the challenging target to halve the under-18 conception rate by 2010.
Latest figures released in February 2008 (Office for National Statistics annual data 2006) show that the Government’s continued focus on this issue is having a positive effect, with the rate of teenage conceptions now at the lowest point in 20 years. This progress achieved nationally, however, masks significant variation in local area performance. If all areas were performing as well as the top quartile, the strategy would be on target to meet the 50 per cent reduction by 2010.
Each year, around 39,000 young women under-18 become pregnant in England. These pregnancies occur throughout the country–although they are much more likely to occur in the most deprived wards. The overwhelming majority of under-18 conceptions are unintended and around half lead to abortion.
All local authorities have hotspots wards where more than 6 per cent of 15-17 year old females become pregnant.
