The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated October 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question what the (a) number and (b) rate of under-18 year old conceptions was in (a) England and (b) each local authority ward in England for the period (i) 2003 to 2005 and (ii) 2004 to 2006. (295890)
Figures on conceptions are estimates based on the number of live births, stillbirths or legal abortions. They do not include miscarriages and illegal abortions.
The table below provides the (a) numbers and (b) rates of conceptions to women aged under 18, for England from 2003 to 2006.
Figures on conceptions of women aged under 18 are not published for local authority wards in order to protect the privacy of individuals.
Conceptions (a) Number (b) Rate per 1,0002 2003 39,553 42.2 2004 39,593 41.6 2005 39,804 41.3 2006 39,170 40.6 1 Under 18 years at estimated date of conception. 2 Number of conceptions to women under 18 per 1,000 female population aged 15 to 17.