Bracknell Forest has the biggest drop in teenage pregnancy in the country thanks to a range of innovative schemes to educate children, says the borough council.

In 1998, around 45 out of every 1,000 girls aged under 18 in the borough became pregnant.

However, new figures show that has almost halved to around 25 per 1,000.

Bracknell now has the biggest reduction of any area in the country since 1998, when the Government announced a target of trusts reducing teenage pregnancies by 45 per cent.

Lorraine Parker, Bracknell Forest Council’s teenage pregnancy and sexual health project manager, was delighted at the news, but said the work on educating young people would continue.

“What we have noticed last year that the amount of pregnancies coincides with a rise in teenage unemployment.

She said there were a range of initiatives that had really made a difference.

“The drop in the rate of pregnancies in the last 10 years is fantastic,” she said.

“It’s not to say the actual amount of pregnancies has gone down, but the rate per 1,000 girls has gone down massively.

“The figures show slight increases over some of the years, including last year.

“We have done a lot to try to educate – we have sexual health clinics at three of the schools, and you can get free contraception at Bracknell & Wokingham College and Skimped Hill health centre.

“Accessibility is very important.”

“We have also been visiting schools with plays with stories about teen pregnancy and we’ve even had teen mothers themselves giving talks at the schools”

She added it was very important to listen to the views of the young people and is planning a special event at the end of the month to get some feedback.

Ms Parker is also involved in the Hug FM project, a 10-week scheme for 15 unemployed people across the borough, with the ultimate aim of producing a four-day radio station.

Staff have been visiting children in primary schools, focusing on what they call “risky behaviour”.

The figures show a fall in the number of girls aged between 15 and 17 getting pregnant from 206 between 2003 and 2005 to 179 between 2006 and 2008.

The number of girls who had abortions also fell from 59 between 2003 and 2005, to 55 between 2006 and 2008.

In Reading, the figure over the two periods fell from 432 to 371, in Slough from 255 to 254 and Wokingham from 182 to 172.

Diane Clemison, public health nurse at NHS Berkshire East, said: “This is terrific news.

“These figures demonstrate that the excellent work in East Berkshire is really paying off.

“We have built up good relationships with schools, youth centres and other places used by young people. Plans are being developed to extend the network of drop-in clinics and outreach work with our communities.”

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