Council lead members for children’s services and officers from around the country heard about Brighton & Hove's work to reduce teen pregnancy as part of a high profile event to share good practice.
 
Council members, chief executives and directors charged with reducing teenage pregnancy met at a Local Government Association summit in London to examine strategies to tackle what for many authorities is ranked a high priority. Many authorities’ Local Area Agreements cite reducing under 18s pregnancy.
 
While the national teen pregnancy strategy has seen a fall in pregnancy among under-18s of 13%, in Brighton & Hove the latest figures reveal a fall of 25%.
 
From a baseline rate of 48 per 1,000 of under 18s that became pregnant in 1998 the level has dropped by more than a quarter to 36 per 1,000.  While 187 teenagers became pregnant in 1998 that figure had fallen to 150 in 2008.
 
Councillor Vanessa Brown, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People and Kerry Clarke, commissioner for teenage pregnancy, presented the council’s new programme to tackle teen pregnancy to a 90-strong gathering in London .
 
The council’s programme stemmed from a leadership conference for all staff involved in the issue last year where six objectives were set. These included challenging existing local cultural norms around sexual activity, identifying those young people at risk, developing the young people’s workforce so they are properly equipped and rolling out services that change behaviours.
 
Recent local statistics show that more than 200  teenagers considered at risk of unplanned pregnancy learnt about the dangers of alcohol misuse, the role of contraception and the importance of delaying sex until they are ready.
 
Campaigns and services were focused on engaging with young people on issues around alcohol and healthy sexual relationships.
 
The initiatives employed the results of a Mystery Shopper exercise to test and improve the advice services on offer and identify more effective ways to change teen behaviour around sex.
 
The council ran campaigns that involved 22 professionals from six different services that identified at risk young people. Those were called "I am Safe" last summer and ‘R U Ready for the Holidays’ over the winter. It also tackles "proxy purchasing" to warn adults against buying alcohol for underage drinkers.
 
Cllr Brown said:
“The pioneering work on campaigns and new services we are providing is showing promising signs of success so it’s important that we share these with other councils.
 
“This is a record fall in the number of teenagers becoming pregnant in the city and underlines the importance of the wide-ranging work that the council and NHS Brighton & Hove are carrying out.
 
“Teenage parents and their children are at increased risk of living in poverty and suffer poorer health than other residents so it is good news that the new services being provided in the city are reaching unprecedented numbers of those most in need.
 
“Not only do we need to break the cycle where the child of a young teen parent becomes themselves a 15 or 16-year old parent, but we need to educate young people about the role that alcohol can play, the need to use contraception properly and to get good advice about sex."

For more information about Brighton and Hove Council view:
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk