To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many girls aged 13 to 17 years became pregnant in each local authority area in 2007. (304743)

The latest (2007) data for each top-tier local authority are available on the ‘Every Child Matters’ website at the following link:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/healthandwellbeing/teenagepregnancy/statistics/

This provides the number and rate of conceptions and the proportion of conceptions that resulted in an abortion. The final column also shows the percentage change in the local conception rate between 1998 (the baseline year for the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy) and 2007.

At a national level, there has been a 10.5 per cent. fall in the teenage conception rate over this period. Within this decline in teenage conceptions overall, there has been a 23.3 per cent. decline in teenage births.

Although annual data for 2008 are not yet available, ONS has published quarterly conception data for the first three quarters of 2008. This shows a further reduction in the under 18 conception rate in each quarter compared to the corresponding quarters in 2007.