The number of under- 18 conceptions in County Durham has been vastly reduced over the last few years, Cabinet has heard.
Durham County Council’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee carried out a review on Under 18 conceptions in the county and found that numbers have reduced in recent years.
The review worked closely with partners in the health profession and focussed on the levels of sex and relationship education in schools, the provision of contraception services for young people, support for young parents and communication available. A survey on under 18 conceptions undertaken by the UK Youth Parliament also fed into the review.
Councillor Jan Blakey, chair of the scrutiny review, said: “County Durham’s success in reducing conception rates for under- 18s is down to excellent partnership working between the council, the health service, our schools and other organisations and agencies.
“This joint approach has made a real difference and the evidence points toward a downward trend when we compare ourselves to our North East neighbours. That said we should not be complacent.”
In 2009 the under -18 conception rate for County Durham was 44.0 per 1000 girls compared to 46.9 per 1000 girls for the North East.
Positive steps recommended by the scrutiny committee, include the development of a universal logo to indicate to young people where emergency contraception is available and to work with young people to explore possible alterative ways of communicating with them and to make them aware of available services.
Cabinet were given copies of the report on Wednesday.
