I shall begin with three brief stories. The first comes from my Constituency last Friday, when I spoke to various older ladies about their experiences of teenage pregnancy and how they thought that it affected other people's lives. One lady, in her late 40s, said to me touchingly, "I had a baby at the age of 16 and I absolutely love my kids, but it meant that I lost my childhood, education and most of my opportunities in life. I have rebuilt my life now, but I really wish that I had left it until later." That happens to an awful lot of young mums in my constituency.

The second story was told to me by a teacher at Treorchy comprehensive. She was talking to one of the girls in her class, who was by no means stupid—in fact, she was quite clever—but who was having difficulties at home. She did not seem to be trying hard for her GCSEs and the teacher said to her, "Why don't you try a bit harder, because this is really important for your future?", and the girl replied, "Well, miss, there's not much point, because I'm going to get pregnant next year". The teacher asked, "What do you mean you're going to get pregnant next year? You haven't even got a boyfriend", to which the girl replied, "It doesn't really matter who the boy is; I'm going to get pregnant next year." The teacher said to me, "The sad thing is that that is exactly what happened." The girl got pregnant at 16 and left her education before completing her GCSEs.

The third story is about a 15-year-old constituent of mine, who has had her first baby—she is even thinking about having a second—and who said to me, "Well, the thing is I was doing really badly at school. I was being picked on and bullied. All the other girls hated me, and I didn't have any friends. And at home it was miserable." She told me all sorts of things with which I shall not delay the Chamber this morning. She said, "I just thought that if I had a baby, I would have a purpose in life, somebody to love and somebody to love me." She will probably be quite a good mum—she is a lovely young woman. And of course many teenage mums turn out to be fabulous mums, against the odds, and often are so determined and capable that they can rebuild their lives.

None the less, I believe that teenage pregnancy is one of the biggest and most difficult problems facing constituencies such as mine. The map of teenage pregnancy in Britain is the map of poverty and deprivation. Last week, I put together some statistics, which, for the first time, were done by constituency, rather than by local authority. They show that the map is a consistent line of the poorest communities in this country. Britain, as a whole, has a poor record. We have the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe. It is not just slightly higher than other countries—it is five times higher than in Holland, three times higher than in France and double the figure in Germany. In fact, only one country in the world has a higher figure than ours—the United States of America.

Some might say, "Why does that matter? It is always lovely to see a new baby, and with a young mum able to give the child all the care that she can". In truth, it is bad for both the girl and the child. It is more than likely that the girl will never finish her education, get any qualifications or get work, and she is more likely to live a life on benefits and to suffer from significant mental health problems during the early years of her baby's life. As one young boy in the Rhondda told me, "A life on benefits still means that you're poor."

There are problems for the children as well. The baby is likely to weigh much less at birth than those born to more mature girls. As a result, and because teenage mums are less likely to breastfeed, the children are more likely to have medical problems as they go through life. The pressures on teenage mums are such that quite a lot of their children do not end up receiving a full set of vaccinations or the medical support that they need during the first two years of life, which can result in further problems later on. Quite depressingly, a very high percentage of the daughters of teenage mums become teenage mums themselves. As wealth is inherited, so, all too often, is poverty.

As the person who holds the unenviable title of Member for the Constituency at the top of the list for teenage pregnancy, I really appreciate my hon. Friend raising this debate and his courage in talking about the problem. He mentioned the intergenerational nature of teenage pregnancy. Does he accept that, marvellous though the work being done for pregnant women and young mums is, early Intervention is the key to breaking the intergenerational cycle? For example, is he aware of the work that we are doing in Nottingham to create a change in culture? It aims to ensure that people receive the right pre and post-natal care, as well as intensive health visits. We are also developing the programme on the social and emotional aspects of learning at primary and secondary schools, and ultimately, as part of the early intervention package—

Order. As well as being early, interventions should be brief.

Notwithstanding your comments, Mr. Taylor, my hon. Friend was making a very important point about the need for all the different agencies to work together, which has very much been the thrust of the Government's message over the past 10 years. Incidentally, I pay tribute to the Government for having spotted this as a significant issue, and for having sought to bring every measure to bear to tackle it. The difficulty for us is that other countries started to tackle the causes much earlier and were able to cut teenage pregnancy rates dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s. However, it has taken us much longer. We have cut them by 12 per cent. in the past few years, but that is not enough.

It seems that a very mechanical approach is being taken to this serious issue. Would it not be better to involve local groups in order to achieve more successful and relevant results in local communities, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, which clearly does not work in areas such as the Rhondda and the Isle of Wight?

Actually, I think that in some areas we do need to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, because we should not be sending out mixed messages to young people—a part of the problem that I shall come to a little later. Also, the problem presents itself in different ways in different communities. For instance, as many youngsters in the Rhondda have pointed out to me, a youngster in Cardiff might find it very easy to access a sexual health advice clinic with anonymity and to buy contraceptives in the local branch of Boots, but in the Rhondda, it is almost certain that the woman behind the counter—it will be a woman—will know their mother. Youngsters are more intimidated in some areas than in others when trying to access contraception. Furthermore, of course, in rural areas advice centres might be so widely dispersed that access is difficult. Local authorities and the various agencies need to work together to find practical and workable solutions.

The Government have rightly pointed out that single people acting as champions on behalf of voluntary and public sector organisations can make a significant difference. Interestingly, in some areas teenage pregnancy rates have risen over the past 10 years—quite dramatically in certain places—but in others they have fallen dramatically. In one area, the figure has risen by 40 per cent., but in several others it has fallen by that much.

I echo my hon. Friend's comments. The situation that he describes in his Constituency applies to some wards in mine. He talks about percentages. Last Friday, I raised this problem with people at Salford primary care trust, who pointed out that the data on teenage pregnancy are two or more years out of date. If a health body adopts measures, it must be an issue. Will he impress on the Minister that, if the Office for National Statistics provided health bodies and others with more up-to-date data, we could observe more readily the trends and whether the action being taken is having a good effect?

There are some things on which I want to press the Minister, but that is not one, oddly, because there is a real difficulty in working out the teenage pregnancy rate, which is the most significant issue that we must tackle. The rate must be predicated on the number of live births—obviously, nine months after the pregnancy starts—minus the number of legal abortions. That is how the statistics are worked out, so there will always be some drag on them. The truth is that what happens in any one Constituency does not matter, although in the Rhondda in 2006 there were 101 teenage pregnancies, and in Kensington and Chelsea there were just 11, despite more people living in the latter than in the former. The issue is not the absolute figures but the trend, which needs to move much more resolutely downward.

Teenage pregnancy is also a problem because it affects the most vulnerable in society. The most distressing statistic that I came across—I shall not bore Members with many statistics—is that 50 per cent. of teenage girls in care will become a teenage mum either while in care or within 18 months of leaving it. The state already takes care of those people, but they are the most vulnerable. If we cannot put things right with that group of young girls, we will have difficulty with others.

I was interviewed on Friday by ITV, and the journalist's first question was, "What is the nature of the problem?" I told him, and he said, "So, what causes teenage pregnancy?" He then burst into fits of laughter, because he realised the intrinsic problem with his question. However, there are some root causes of teenage pregnancy, and they are where we need to do much of the work. First, in every conversation that I have had with youngsters in my constituency, they have said that their access to high-quality information about sex and relationships—I shall say only that phrase, "sex and relationships", because the issue is not just sex—is minimal. None of the kids to whom I spoke had ever spoken to their parents about sex, which is very different from other countries in Europe, where most children receive their first information about sex and relationships from their parents—the right place.

Secondly, very few of those youngsters in the Rhondda said that they had effective—or, indeed, any—sex and relationship education in school. Some cited the single biology lesson in which they, as they put it, were taught how to put a condom on a cucumber, but none cited anything other than that. Indeed, some of the girls said that, when they had their first period, they did not know what was happening to their body, and that nobody had explained it to them. The situation was reflected in the Ofsted report in England, and in the Estyn report in Wales. Both said that, while there have been improvements in recent years in sex and relationship education, far too many schools still do not do it, do not do it well, are not prepared to do it, refuse to do it, or—more importantly, as many would say—start far too late.

There is no point starting sex and relationship education once youngsters are already having sex, and the truth is that, whether we like it or not, between one third and one quarter of young people in the UK have had their first sexual encounter before their 16th birthday—considerably earlier than in other countries in Europe. All the evidence suggests that good sex and relationship education is not just about the biological facts, but about putting sex in its context of relationships, commitment and personal development, and about giving kids an understanding that they have so much self-worth that they can make a choice for themselves about whether to delay their first sexual encounter, and say to a boyfriend, "No, I don't want to have sex," without the boy running away or the girl being thought of as frigid. All those issues are important, but they will work for youngsters only if education starts early enough—before they engage in sexual activity—and is consistent enough. It should not be just one lesson; one cannot do sex and relationship education in a single lesson.

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I shall, but my hon. Friend knows that he has to be brief!

My hon. Friend says that young people need the mental, social and emotional wherewithal to make the best of sex and relationship education. Does he therefore accept that that wherewithal comes from much earlier in the life cycle than when one is a teenager, or aged 10 or 11—that it starts almost from birth itself, and from proper parenting skills?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The country in Europe with the lowest teenage pregnancy level is Holland. Which country in Europe starts its sex and relationship education at the youngest age? The answer is Holland. Of course, education must start at an age-appropriate level. One is not going to go into everything at the age of six to 11, but many people say to me that, for a parent, it is difficult to start talking to one's child at 13 years old about such matters if one has not started talking to them at seven or eight about why mummy and daddy love one another, and so on.

In Britain, we have tended to fight shy of sex and relationship education. I suspect that the Government will later say, "We think that sex and relationship education is very important; we are training another 2,000 specialist teachers, and we are determined to improve it." However, the truth is that many schools just will not take the issue seriously unless we are prepared to put it on a statutory basis, so that, by the time every young girl gets her first period, she understands what is happening to her body, and so that every young person has all the information that they need to make good choices for themselves, such as delaying their first sexual encounter and not engaging in risky sex.

There are other root causes. Many young people drink a lot of alcohol now, and one worrying statistic is that girls, according to the latest figures, own up to binge-drinking more frequently than boys. All the good intentions that one may have at the beginning of an evening—about not sleeping with somebody, or about sleeping with them only if contraception is used—fly out the window at the end of the evening when everybody is drunk. We must do more to tackle the terrible problem not just of under-age drinking, which might be a couple of pints, but of serious binge-drinking among youngsters. There is also a lack of contraception and good advice for many youngsters in many areas of the country.

Social Conservatives must take on board many of the points that I have made so far, but social liberals must take on board what I shall say now. Although it is not true that girls get pregnant to get a flat, because 90 per cent. of teenage mums live in their parents' home or their boyfriend's parents' home, there is evidence of planned teenage pregnancies. The girl to whom I referred earlier was either so careless about whether she got pregnant that she did not mind whether she did, or she wanted to get pregnant because she could envisage a sense of self-worth if she became a teenage mum. That element of teenage pregnancy—especially in areas where there are many teenage mums pushing their babies in buggies down the street, and there seems to be no stigma attached to being a teenage mum—is part of the problem.

We social liberals—I include myself in that group—must recognise that the mixed messages are bewildering for youngsters. There is not only the mixed message of one set of rules for boys and another for girls. There is also the message that when a young girl does not do well in school and has a tough time at home, there is relatively minimal support for her; but the moment that she becomes pregnant, there will be a child psychologist, a local nurse and the doctor. As many girls said when I talked to them in the Rhondda, everybody is suddenly their friend. They go from being the female equivalent of Billy-no-mates—Jenny-no-mates—to everyone in the school suddenly being their friend, because no one wants to appear judgmental. That is part of the difficulty, alongside the fact that television, teenage magazines and pop music all sexualise children at a very young age today.

What should we be doing? The first thing to do is to help parents talk to their children. I am not a parent and probably never will be, but I know from speaking to others that starting to talk to their kids about sex and relationships is a difficult business. All the surveys show that many parents would welcome help and advice. The Government have produced advice online, and other advice packs are available, but in Sweden they send advice to every parent of a 13-year-old, saying, "These are things that you might consider doing: talking about sex, alcohol, drugs, smoking and your own personal lifestyle." That is something that we should consider.

As I said, sex and relationship education needs to be much more comprehensive, and not just biological but about the emotional and perhaps spiritual aspects of sexual relationships. I also believe that, in the end, such education will have to be on a statutory basis, so that every school in the land provides it. Otherwise, it will not happen. We should also ensure that nurses in schools have a direct responsibility for spotting the girls who might be at risk and for counselling them about sex and relationships, so that they have a sense of self-worth.

We need a vibrant youth service in every area of the country, so that there are adult role models for youngsters to talk to about such things in an informal setting. We need to do more about supported housing, because all too often a young girl who needs a council flat will first be told that she can get one only if she is on her own and the boy is not there, so the dads are left out of the equation, which must be crazy. She is then dumped on a manky housing estate where there are a lot of other problems and given floating support such as someone coming to see her twice a week. No wonder such girls have mental health problems when their babies are two, because they do not have the personal resources to cope in such a situation. There should be supported accommodation, in which girls perhaps share cooking facilities, as has been tried in some areas. There should also be academic support, so that they can continue in education, medical support for the children, and an opportunity for the girls to get out to work when they are 18, 19 or 20. That might also help us to change the distressing fact that a large percentage of the teenage girls who become pregnant are already on their second pregnancy.

I have mentioned involving the dads, which is vital. One message that goes out resolutely to young dads is, "We don't want you. We are not interested in you. The state isn't interested in you, the girls aren't interested in you—keep away." That must be a disaster, and we must turn that message around.

Finally, we should help girls to get into work. That is not to say that every teenage mum should be working a full week by the age of 19, which would be crazy. In fact, it is quite probable that many of them should not work 16 hours a week, but if they are to have a chance in life, they need an opportunity to socialise not just with other teenage mums but with people in a work environment and to bring more money into the household. We need to make changes to the benefit system, so that more girls have the opportunity to do mini-jobs—perhaps eight or 10 hours a week—which the system currently penalises.

I know that the Government are doing many of the things that I have suggested, as are local authorities and primary care trusts—or, in Wales, local health boards—but the picture is patchy. In some areas it is a great success, and in others it is a terrible failure. The truth is that we have cut teenage pregnancy rates by 12 per cent. in the past 10 years, and perhaps we will be able to do more in the next few years, but we really need to fight harder to tackle the problem. The two key things are introducing statutory sex and relationship education in England and Wales and dismantling the mixed messages that effectively say to many young girls that it is a good idea to be a teenage mum.

There are challenges for social liberals and social conservatives alike. I know that there are challenges for social conservatives, because the Daily Mail disagrees with nearly everything that I have said. We must be resolute, determined and clear-sighted if we are to make a difference. I have set up the website teenagemums.org.uk, to which thousands of people have logged on, making recommendations, voting on what they think of other recommendations and saying which ideas are good or bad. If we halve teenage pregnancy in the Rhondda through that work and through what the Governments in the Welsh Assembly and here do, we will have done something significant to tackle the poverty and deprivation that has been handed down from generation to generation in my Constituency.

I congratulate Chris Bryant on securing the debate. I shall keep my comments brief, as I know many Members wish to speak on something that has an impact on every Constituency, not just the Isle of Wight. There are more questions than answers, so I shall be glad to have the Minister's view on a number of points that I shall make.

It is imperative that we separate the issues of under-age sex and under-age pregnancy from the more general one of teenage pregnancy. Surely, it is not the role of the state to put a stop to something that is legal. It may prefer to do so, but two people can have sex in their teens and be above the age of consent. It may be unwise, but that is different from being unlawful. Sex under the age of 16 is illegal, and under-age pregnancy stems from under-age sex. That is the matter that must be considered.

Young people need individual help, not group help, at the time when it is right for them, whether at the age of 10, seven or 14, rather than help that will be appropriate for some but not for all. Preferably, that help will be provided to children by their parents, who can give the best advice. Of course, I recognise that sometimes parents are not involved, so a second course is necessary, but I want children and parents to work together first.

Does the Minister believe that the state has a duty to prevent a legal activity just because it may lead to pregnancy in the post-16 years? I suspect that the Government are not considering changing the age of consent, so would it not be better for any strategy to tackle what is illegal—having sex under the age of consent—rather than the different matter of teenage pregnancy? It is interesting to see that the rate of teenage pregnancy, which includes figures both above and below the age of consent, has dropped recently, although it is still high when compared with that of other countries. I hope that we will learn from the Minister how far pregnancy rates have dropped for the above-16s, and, more important, for those in the age group below. Finally, I shall be pleased to hear the Minister tell us what plans exist to tackle under-age sex, which is the all-important issue.

I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to this excellent debate, initiated by my hon. Friend Chris Bryant. The interest shown in the debate, particularly from Labour Back Benchers, certainly demonstrates how seriously we take the issue.

In a former role, the Minister for the Olympics, my right hon. Friend Tessa Jowell, once said that the best contraceptive for a young girl in her teens was a good prediction for her GCSE and A-level results. That seems to be a trite statement until we start to understand—as we are beginning to do—the complex nature of teenage pregnancy and what it can lead to. It is a dereliction of our duty as Members of Parliament not to understand that a pregnancy in teenage years is not something that we would want children to embark upon when they have the right choices before them and the right setting to make decent choices for their lives.

Of course the reasons why such pregnancies occur are complex. My hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda told us clearly that there are myriad reasons why a young girl may decide to become pregnant. That does not mean that such a decision has been made in a setting that is either nurturing or provides a sense of aspiration for the future. I utterly understand and respect that situation, and we need to tackle those issues seriously.

Unwanted conception leads to many problems, such as poor baby health and poor maternal emotional health. We have heard how isolation can lead to enormous difficulties and, of course, a poor economic outcome makes it hard to move on and recover from having a baby at such an age. However, it is not impossible to move on and many of us could tell lots of stories about fantastic women who have thrived and survived and gone back to college and done an amazing job for their children. We should not write off those women, but we should think about why they may lack the confidence to say, "I do not want to have sex at this age and I will not do so because I want to do well at school and show everyone that I can earn a living and be independent." That is the situation we want women to be in and that is what we want for the future: self-confident, happy young people who do not feel driven into having sex at an early age, whether before or after 16. If sex is unwanted or not welcome at that time and women feel under pressure, we seriously need to address that situation.

Some adolescents need help in understanding the risks they are taking. They also need to understand their bodies and the way they work. In medieval times, it was acceptable for women to become pregnant at 15 or 16—we all know that happened—because that is when a woman is at her most fertile. Risk taking is much greater at that age and if we do not equip women—and, of course, the other part of the deal, men—with understanding, pregnancy will occur.

We must ensure that we inform younger children of the mechanics of pregnancy. I believe that we are now doing so and that there is no danger in informing children about how sex happens if it is mixed with clear information about relationships, respect and understanding. That is the recipe for excellent sex and relationship education in our schools. I certainly err on the side of compulsory sex education, but there is a quality issue in terms of its provision, which at present is incredibly patchy. I hope that the Minister will tell us how she will ensure that good authorities that are grasping the issue and doing well will share best practice with other authorities that are not doing so well.

In Crawley, we have had success in reducing teenage pregnancy rates and I am delighted. However, that was because the strategy was taken seriously. The Constituency of Crawley is the most deprived part of West Sussex, which is a relatively well-off area, and that is reflected in the teenage pregnancy rates in the relevant tables. The focus of the strategy was on areas where most help was needed and it was delivered through the schools that were having the most difficulty and where the numbers of teenage pregnancies were higher than elsewhere. The strategy quickly led to a concerted approach from everyone who was able to provide sex and relationship education and it resulted in a huge reduction—20 per cent.—in teenage pregnancy rates from 1998 to 2005. I congratulate those who took part in that concerted effort, but we must not take our eye off the ball. It is easy to use the money that came with the strategy and the commitment of all those who had the opportunity to assist with it, but it takes concerted hard work to ensure that those figures continue to decrease.

My hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda is right about the role of men and boys in the whole process and it is ludicrous not to include them. If a young girl decides to continue with her pregnancy, she needs all the support we can provide. After all, we want babies to be housed and to ensure that they have a good outcome in their lives. We do not want babies to be hampered or disadvantaged in any way because of their start in life. The work at Broadfield children's centre is amazing. It has a fantastic breastfeeding peer support group where some teenage mums are helping other young mums who decided to continue with their pregnancy to breastfeed their babies to ensure that they have a decent start in life. There is also a father's group where many young fathers come together to discuss what it is like to become a father and how it is not quite the easy path that they thought it would be. There are some excellent examples that show how teenage pregnancy rates can be reduced and how we can support teenage parents.

There are many different ways in which we can tackle the problems, some of which are not immediately apparent. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 makes a commitment that children in foster care can go to the school of the foster parents' choice. Such children will not simply be consigned to a place in an unpopular school, which will help enormously with outcomes for children in foster care. The issue of teenage pregnancy is not just about education; it is about the care, help and advice that children receive—it is not just about health or parents but about all those things.

When preparing for the debate, I looked at the teenage pregnancy strategy review carried out by an independent research team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and it was clear that good practice is truly reaping rewards in some areas. Such good practice gives young girls confidence in their future and enables them to think properly about their choices. I hope the Minister will say that she wants more of that good practice and that she wants that strategy to be embedded in all our communities. With the revival and renewal of the Connexions service, we have a great opportunity to deliver good sex and relationship education. I certainly hope it will flourish in the future.

I join my hon. Friend Laura Moffatt in congratulating my hon. Friend Chris Bryant on securing the debate. He has already given a good analysis of some of the causes of teenage pregnancy and a clear exposition of what he believes are some of the solutions. I agree that factors such as binge drinking and the early sexualisation of children are increasingly becoming matters of concern. Such factors also make it more difficult for the Government to meet their target of halving teenage pregnancies.

My hon. Friend highlighted the stigma attached to teenage pregnancy, which is a difficult issue. Once somebody is pregnant and decides to go ahead with the pregnancy, it is important that they have support from people within their school or community. In the 1980s, particularly in some of the media, teenage mothers were stigmatised and demonised through stories about them becoming pregnant to get council flats and so on. We obviously do not want to return to such attitudes, but at the same time, there is the issue that my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda raised about its being acceptable and almost normal—the done thing—for young mothers in some areas, particularly on some of our more deprived estates, to be teenage mothers. There is a tricky balancing act.

I know people who had babies when they were teenagers. They have done a good job bringing up their children—great kids who are now teenagers themselves—and they are doing all that they can to stop them going down the same path as they did, because they know that it was incredibly difficult. Although they brought up decent kids, their lives have been fairly chaotic and they have always struggled to make ends meet. They have taken on jobs and then had to give them up because of child care or relationship issues—often, the relationship with the father of the children causes huge problems in their lives as well—so they know that it is not easy. As I said, they are desperate that their children do not go down the same path.

One of the things that the speakers so far have highlighted is that above all we must address the whole concept of young people's emotional health and well-being. I agree. The Government highlighted that in their 2006 document, "Teenage Pregnancy: Accelerating the Strategy to 2010". We must deal with the development of social and emotional skills, and I shall speak briefly about two projects that aim to do that.

Hengrove school in south Bristol—it is not in my Constituency, so I have not had an opportunity to visit it—introduced a lunch-time and after-school drop-in service in September 2005. It is staffed by a school nurse, a child and adolescent mental health worker, a nurse from the Brook advisory clinic, an adviser from Connexions and a drug and alcohol worker. There were nearly 2,000 visits in the first year, mostly from 14 to 15-year-olds, and about a third of the visits were from boys. A third of the consultations were about sexual health issues. The service is anonymous: it does not ask for pupils' names or record the visit within the system in any way. There are plans to roll the service out to the rest of the city. Projects that start to address the issues before a pregnancy occurs—before it becomes a problem—are really important.

Another Bristol project helps young mothers once they decide to continue with their pregnancy. The Meriton centre, which is a referral unit for young parents, provides education at GCSE level and also some post-16 education for about 75 young girls from the age of 13 upwards. I had the opportunity to visit the centre a few months ago to present awards for qualifications. The centre also offers vocational and personal enrichment courses, and it has an on-site nursery so that the babies can be looked after while the girls are studying.

A debate has been going on for some years about whether it is better to educate teenage mothers in separate referral units or whether they should be kept in mainstream schooling. Dr. Nona Dawson of Bristol university carried out a study in 2003 and concluded that it was better to take young mothers out of mainstream education because of factors such as bullying in class, particularly by boys, difficulties in arranging child care and teachers not taking the girls' aspirations seriously and, in effect, cold-shouldering them. She came to the view that units such as the Meriton centre were a better way of educating teenage mothers.

The Meriton is incredibly successful. It has twice made it on to Ofsted's list of outstanding providers of education. Last year's report stated:

"The Meriton Centre is outstanding in all major respects."

It has an

"outstanding curriculum with extensive links to other organisations", and it offers

"an exceptionally wide array of courses ... The students ... achievements over very short periods of time are excellent and they all leave with good quality qualifications."

One should bear it in mind that most of those young mothers arrived at their situation because they had more or less dropped out of mainstream school anyway. They would not have achieved good GCSE results, or any GCSE results at all. It takes a while for the Meriton to convince them that it is worth attending, but within six to eight months on average, and despite having given birth in the middle of that period, they achieve qualifications that are broadly average for Bristol.

The project that my hon. Friend refers to sounds similar to Books and Babies, which is just outside my Constituency but serves it. It is a wonderful project, and I have been impressed by the staff there. They have enormous dedication and, I suppose, personal love, but one of the difficulties is that the services stop when the mother reaches the age of 16. A big difficulty for 16 to 18-year-olds is that it is difficult to get adequate child care facilities at many schools and colleges.

I am aware that child care is an issue. The Meriton offers post-16 education. It is important that support is offered at least until the age of 18.

Let me briefly give a flavour of what the Meriton is doing. I have been given various reports published by the centre and some of the achievements make inspirational reading. One young girl says that she attended a teaching assistant course—I believe that six young mothers have now qualified as teaching assistants. She wrote that she now has a job in a school and is working with a young boy in year 4 who is mildly autistic. One senses that she feels that she is making a difference to that young boy's life. She has a job that she values, and she feels that she is contributing something.

The Meriton also offers sports leadership courses that involve teaching netball and rounders at primary schools. It has linked up with the university of Bristol law department, where real-life law cases are discussed and the girls are taught to analyse social issues. The centre put on a performance of "The Wizard of Oz"; there are sports activities and it produced a radio show and is helping to build a catering van for the farms for city children project. All sorts of good things are being done—it is not just about getting GCSEs. The centre is also undertaking work to educate other young people about the realities of young parenthood.

There is an organisation in my Constituency called the single parent action network—a national organisation that receives a significant amount of lottery funding—which works with older single mothers. Again, the self-esteem they get from being involved in projects, gaining qualifications and receiving hands-on support and life coaching is incredible.

It is a real shame that we are talking about helping people only once they get into difficulties. I believe that my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley referred to that point. We need to look at what organisations such as the Meriton and the SPAN study centre do to build people's aspirations, boost their self-esteem and help them cope with life, to determine whether we can do something to reach young women in particular, but also young boys, whose attitude is incredibly important. We must try to learn those lessons and build them into our school curriculum at a much earlier stage.

I congratulate my hon. Friend Chris Bryant on securing this important and timely debate. I fully endorse his comments and the comments of my hon. Friends the Members for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) and for Bristol, East (Kerry McCarthy).

I acknowledge that County Durham and my Constituency, the City of Durham, do not have the worst teenage pregnancy rates in the north-east. The rates are on a downward trend, but I want to contribute to this debate because it is important that we continue to focus efforts on securing greater reductions in the number of teenage pregnancies. The reasons for doing so have already been outlined.

It is worth reminding ourselves that, although teenage parenthood can be a positive experience—we need to note that, and I echo the comments of my hon. Friends about not stigmatising all teenage mothers as bad or failing mothers—we know that the experience frequently brings with it negative consequences for the teenage mothers themselves and their children. Not only are there negative health consequences, including mental health problems, but problems with longer-term health outcomes. Teenage mothers are also more likely not to continue with education, to have no qualifications by the age of 33, to be in receipt of benefits, to be on a low income and to experience housing difficulties.

Young fathers, as we have already mentioned, are similarly affected. It is important that, when we talk about teenage mothers, we must remember that there are teenage parents, too, and we need to focus a lot of our attention on young men as well as on young women.

There are negative consequences for children, in terms of low birth weight and higher mortality. There are lower breastfeeding rates among the group about which we are talking. There is also a higher risk of poverty, poor housing and poor nutrition, and, significantly, a greater likelihood of the children of teenage parents becoming teenage parents themselves. Clearly, we should stop that cycle, if at all possible.

Figures for my area have been reducing ahead of the local target and a great deal of credit for that has to go to the local tackling teenage pregnancy partnership board. Hon. Members have already explained that, if this multifaceted issue is to be tackled, a number of agencies, as well as parents, will need to respond. The local partnership board in Durham includes the primary care trust, Connexions and bodies dealing with health, housing, education, youth and community services and the voluntary sector, which specifically target this issue. The board is overseeing a strategy that concentrates on the key issues, including sex and relationship counselling—it puts those two things together—and that approach is being rolled out in respect of sex education in all the schools. However, the work does not take place only in schools. Schools are important and a key point of contact for the group that we are talking about, but so are other settings, such as doctors' surgeries or youth projects.

There is also a strong focus on building self-esteem in both the young men and the young women who fall into the at-risk groups. There is huge evidence that, where young people's self-esteem and aspirations are raised, teenage pregnancy rates are reduced dramatically. There is also better support, both for teenage mothers—it is important that they are supported—and those in the high-risk groups. Looked-after children have been defined as a significantly at-risk group, and there is a specific project focusing on young people in care and working with young women in care to try to reduce teenage pregnancy rates. Ongoing consultation is carried out with young people in the area involved. Because all the agencies have bought into the partnership board, they have made it a priority, in all their work, to reduce teenage pregnancy rates. Clearly, this has to happen if there are to be successful outcomes locally.

I pay tribute to the work of children's services in County Durham and the way in which that department has worked with the PCT to bring effective children's centres into the city. Three new children's centres have been established in the past year and another two are planned. These centres are important, because they are a local focus, not only for work with teenage mothers, but for work with the at-risk group. They operate early Intervention programmes, through Sure Start, and they have a worker who reaches out to the high-risk groups, including young men. That work is having a certain degree of success locally. Health visitors based in the children's centres are working with young mothers and fathers and encouraging the groups involved to talk more widely in the community, not necessarily about the disbenefits of the situation that they are in, but about what hard work it is to bring up children, particularly in limited material circumstances where there is a high level of poverty.

All the agencies involved agree that the main task is to sustain the downward trend and they agree that that is the biggest challenge, because a group of people remain almost stubbornly resistant to any efforts made to try to reduce pregnancy rates. However, we have to consider further what needs to be done to tackle the problem with that group. I should like to link that thought with some of the discussions that we were having yesterday about extending apprenticeships and vocational education. Those at greatest risk of teenage pregnancy are disengaged from education at an early age and they feel, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda outlined graphically, that there is nothing for them and no other future for them except to go down the route of having a child who will love them and who they can love back, giving a meaning to their lives.

We have to raise aspirations and, if we are to do so with the group involved, we have to engage them in education and training in a way that we have not done previously. That means ensuring that those who already have a young child or are pregnant do not leave education and that various packages are worked around their needs, with flexible education, training and part-time employment available, or support through the benefits system, allowing them to continue their training.

We want to prevent that group from becoming teenage parents in the first instance and that means having education that means something to them. Rolling out apprenticeships is important and so are the diplomas for 14 to 19-year-olds. We need to offer wider-ranging education and support packages for those who are seen to be failing at an early stage. We also need much more investment in young people's services, so that those involved are better connected locally, because although young people can get support sometimes, it is not clear where they should go in the first instance. There needs to be a clear point of contact for all young people, so that they can get a wide range of support services when they need them.

I echo the comments made by my hon. Friends. We live in a society that is sexualising young people very early and in which it seems easy for lap-dancing clubs to get licences, but difficult to stop them from being licensed. We need to broaden our focus on teenage pregnancy and look at some of the wider societal issues. However, we should not stop focusing on the specific issues that affect young people. We need all the policies that we can put in place to raise aspirations and keep our young people in education for as long as possible.

I, too, congratulate Chris Bryant. This has been an interesting debate and I have not heard anything in hon. Members' speeches that I disagree with.

The United Kingdom had the highest level of teenage pregnancy in western Europe in 1998 and, as far as there are up-to-date comparable statistics, we are still in the same position. However, the Government have to be praised for having the first teenage pregnancy strategy, which is attempting to co-ordinate and tackle both the causes and the consequences of teenage pregnancy. Teenage conception rates have fallen to their lowest level for 20 years. This morning, we have heard about some excellent projects, but—there is a big "but"—back in February 2007, the Office for National Statistics issued figures on teenage conception rates in England for 2005, which showed very little improvement on the previous year, and even a rise in the number of under-16s becoming pregnant.

The big question for the Minister is whether the strategy's targets will be achieved. They are to halve the under-18 conception rate by 2010; to get a downward trend in the under-16 rate; to increase the proportion of teenage parents in education, training or employment by 60 per cent. by 2010; and to reduce their risk of long-term social exclusion. There must be general agreement that progress towards those targets must accelerate.

It is interesting to note the variations between local authorities, and it makes sense for the Government to work with what might be perceived to be the worst-performing local authorities in terms of targets, because it is sensible to share good practice, but there must obviously be respect for the particular needs of local communities. I remember the figures for my area being announced in 1998 and the feeling of great shock at the figures for the whole of Dorset because, unexpectedly, they were relatively high.

Much work has been undertaken in my area, and Bournemouth and Poole primary care trust has made steady progress in reducing under-18 conception rates. I asked the PCT what were its most effective measures. The first was outreach work to target young people at risk—for example, women with chaotic lifestyles, looked-after children and known sex workers. The second was condom distribution in particular settings, such as youth centres and Connexions centres, and—I emphasise this—where a trained professional was on hand. An additional measure was working with a group of local pharmacists who issue morning-after pills. They have been trained by the PCT, and do follow-up work and monitoring. If the user gives permission, they can be referred to a specialist nurse.

In my Constituency, if the morning-after pill is obtained from a chemist rather than a family planning clinic, it costs £23.80, and for many young girls that is simply not an option. A scheme has been introduced whereby the chemist provides the pill free and the cost is refunded. Would the hon. Lady like that scheme to be extended more widely?

We must face up to the problem. The idea of the morning-after pill is unpalatable to many people in the wide world, but when we hear about binge drinking and its consequences, we must find practical solutions as well as changing the long-term situation. Local tots-to-teens programmes are rather good in changing or influencing attitudes.

The Government have identified key factors for reducing teenage pregnancy. For example, the active engagement of all the key mainstream delivery partners is important, as are a strong senior champion, effective sexual health advice services and the prioritisation of sex and relationships education. The Minister will not be surprised that I want to home in on that point for a few moments, because I have taken every opportunity since coming to the House to raise the subject of compulsory sex and relationships education, which must be appropriate for the age group and for both males and females. That is really important, especially relationships education.

In a survey of 20,000 teenagers conducted by the UK Youth Parliament, more than half rated the teaching of sex education in school as poor, very poor or merely average, while only a quarter said that it was good. Furthermore, nearly half of those questioned said that they had never been taught about the effects of teenage pregnancy and would not know where to find their local sexual health clinic. The survey also revealed that 55 per cent. of all 12 to 15-year-olds and 57 per cent. of girls aged between 16 and 17 had not been taught how to use a condom. Of all those who took part in the survey, 43 per cent. said that they had not been taught about personal, social relationships at school. We should also note the rise in sexually transmitted diseases. The study by the Government's teenage pregnancy unit cited poor sex and relationships education as a reason for high levels of teenage pregnancy in general.

Not so long ago, Davina McCall hosted a television programme in which she went to Holland with teenagers and teachers to look at what happens there. Sex and relationships education was very up front, and we know that it has not led to rising teenage conception rates. The Minister was interviewed for that programme, and I hope that she will be more positive about considering whether to make that important subject compulsory.

Another reason for arguing that such education should be compulsory is my concern about child abuse. If a seven-year-old is being abused at home or within the family, how can they know what is normal behaviour unless they are taught that at school? It is vital that such education is undertaken by qualified professionals and I agree with the Government that it must be of high quality. Currently, we are not equipping young people to make health decisions about their lives. We must offer them better opportunities, so that education must be compulsory, but it is important that relationships and parenting, as well as sex education, are included. Only then can we hope to support young people effectively.

I agree that parents need support in talking to their children, and that point also came out in the television programme. That has always been a focus of mine, for a number of reasons. However, a multi-faceted approach, as well as education, is important. We know that we must have action because of the poorer outcomes that teenage parents and their children experience, and we have heard about that clearly this morning. When considering the factors for our high teenage pregnancy rate, we see the early alienation from school and education. We must ask why. Are girls being offered the right sort of courses, and do we still have gender stereotypes? I recently met a young girl with the YWCA. She said that, at school, she had wanted to do car mechanics, but she was laughed at. That is still happening now. She is now settled with her two-year-old, and she has started her car mechanics course, but why could that not have been available at school? It was what she wanted to do.

I agree with the many hon. Members who have said that having a child when a teenager can be a positive experience, and we must work towards that. Teenage mothers who have a positive experience may have an extended family or a positive partner relationship and they may be in employment or are supported in education. That is what we must aim for. On the other hand, we must think about those teenage mothers who end up receiving means-tested benefits, being locked into the system, and not having any qualifications or incentive to take up extra hours' work. We must be clear that teenage pregnancy accompanies social exclusion, but does not need to cause it, and that much more can be done.

I want to highlight one or two points that the YWCA has made. It identified the excellent care-to-learn scheme, which supports teenage parents in work, but it is worried about the age at which the support is cut off. A teenage mother may not necessarily get her act together and be back in education by the age of 20. It may take longer, so why cannot the care-to-learn scheme be extended?

Similarly, when supporting young people into work, child care is all important. The Education and Skills Bill will present many challenges, but the role of teenage mothers must be considered. Given that they will be among the cohort, it may be more appropriate for them to re-enter education or training at a slightly older age, and I hope that flexibility to enable that will be built in.

I congratulate Chris Bryant on securing this debate. It has given us the opportunity to hear a number of thoughtful and compelling speeches from hon. Members on both sides of the House. The hon. Gentleman painted a powerful picture when he related the first-hand experiences of some of his constituents. He mentioned the sense of lost opportunities that they had when they became mothers at a very early age. He may or may not know that I was brought up very close to his Constituency and I know, first hand, the challenges faced by those tight-knit communities in the south Wales valleys.

The hon. Gentleman also referred to the correlation between the map of poverty and deprivation and the one of teenage pregnancy. He quite rightly said that the two echo each other, but I urge him to consider the aberrations that exist. Some would suggest that pockets of teenage pregnancy problems exist in all constituencies throughout the country, and that is something that we should remember. The hon. Gentleman drew on his experience with tight-knit communities and talked about the importance of having a consistent message delivered in the most appropriate way to yield the best results for people locally.

My hon. Friend Mr. Turner reiterated the point that individual support is needed to reflect the community in which these young people live. Whether we are talking about a tight-knit community in the south Wales valleys, or a different type of community in the Isle of Wight, each has its own needs. It is important that we deliver solutions that reflect the needs of the children and the parents in those areas.

Laura Moffatt talked about the importance of the aspirations of young women. I could not agree more with her point. I am sure that she is aware of the YWCA campaign, which stresses the importance of careers advice for young people. The hon. Members for Bristol, East (Kerry McCarthy) and for City of Durham (Dr. Blackman-Woods) both picked up on the importance of supporting young parents, and ensuring that they do not accept that teenage pregnancy is a social norm. That particular point was made very powerfully by the hon. Member for Bristol, East. The hon. Member for City of Durham talked about the importance of involving fathers at an early stage.

The Government clearly have a strong commitment to cutting teenage pregnancies. Their 10-year strategy started in 1999 and they have spent more than £250 million on trying to halve conception rates. Therefore, there is clearly no shortage of ambition from the Government in this area, which is critical in determining the life chances of young people in this country. Yet in the six years between 1999 and 2005, and after a lion's share of expenditure going into this area, we have seen the conception rate among the under-18s fall by just over 11 per cent. That is devastatingly little progress given the Government's commitment to reduce the inequalities that exist in the country and to give young people the best start in life. The stark facts remain that we have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in western Europe, with more than 20 girls a day becoming pregnant in this country. While we welcome the modest progress that has been made, the Government surely should be looking to change their approach to enable them to reach their target. I will echo the question that was asked by Annette Brooke. Do the Government feel that their target is achievable?

I will turn now to two areas that we have not touched on in the debate. I know that the Minister has looked in detail at the growing crisis in sexual health among teenagers. Last year, the UNICEF report showed that too many young people are sexually active too young. In the report, four out of 10 15-year-olds said that they had had sexual intercourse. The figures from the Office for National Statistics confirmed that one in three 16 to 19-year-olds does not use any form of contraception. Little wonder that we are not seeing much progress on the pregnancy rates and that we are seeing an alarming growth in sexually transmitted infections among teenagers. The Health Protection Agency's figures show that the incidence of herpes has grown 13 per cent. among 16 to 19-year-olds. The diagnoses of genital warts have also grown among this group.

Abortion is another issue that is worth considering. I know it is a highly charged topic among hon. Members. When one looks at the figures, a trend emerges that is of concern. Abortion now seems to be used more regularly among a specific group of women. I am interested to hear what the Minister has to say about that. Despite a 16 per cent. fall in conceptions among under-18-year-olds, we have seen an increase in abortions. Even more worrying is the 40 per cent. increase in second abortions. Perhaps the Minister can outline the Government's response to that problem and tell us what plans there are to tackle it. There are no Department of Health guidelines for abortion clinics or other organisations to provide contraception services immediately following an abortion. Perhaps that void could be filled and constructive advice offered to that group of women.

Despite the very well thought through 10-year plan and the significant expenditure, why are the Government so wide of the mark? Perhaps it is because the Government have found it hard to deliver on their policy beyond increased access to contraception, which we all know is only part of the answer. As my hon. Friend Mr. Lansley noted, when the noble Lord Darzi in the other place announced the Government's pilot scheme that allowed pharmacists to offer the contraceptive pill over the counter, any such proposals need to be subject not only to professional advice but more effective sexual health education. We must encourage young people to take more responsibility for the decisions that they take about their relationships, sexual intercourse and contraception otherwise we will not see the results that we all want to see.

In 2006, the Minister identified sex and relationship education in schools as the key to lowering under-18 conception rates, particularly as school is a primary source of information for young boys. Yet the Youth Parliament's research, which the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole has gone through, shows that there is still a woeful shortfall in what is being delivered on the ground.

The Government launched the teenage pregnancy unit as an integral part of delivering such vital education. Yet the unit's staffing level has been cut from 16 people to three-and-a-half people. Is the Minister convinced that that will give her the effective support that she needs in this important area? Sex needs to be put into the context of relationships and emotional development, as the the hon. Member for Rhondda pointed out in his report. To be successful in cutting teenage pregnancy, improving the understanding of contraception needs to go hand in hand with an ethos that builds up the confidence of young people to see that early parenthood is not the only way to adulthood. Parents and schools have a critical role to play in working with our young people to establish that confidence and ethos and ensure that more young children can go forward and have successful lives. I congratulate the hon. Gentleman again on securing this debate and hope that his contribution to his party's efforts will help to improve the situation.

I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend Chris Bryant on his article and on securing the debate. Indeed, I congratulate all hon. Members on the thoughtful and committed contributions that they made on a very important subject.

My hon. Friend and my hon. Friend Dr. Blackman-Woods and others were right to point to the consequences of teenage pregnancy. I might say to Mr. Turner that that is why the Government are so concerned not only about under-16s but about over-16s if they become pregnant. Clearly, it is right to be concerned about the very vulnerable young people under 16, and we are, but some of the disadvantageous consequences also apply to young people aged 16 to 18 and can affect them for the rest of their lives, so it is right that the Government are taking a lead across the board.

Many of my hon. Friends and the hon. Members for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) and for Basingstoke (Mrs. Miller) outlined some of the consequences, with which we are all familiar. The infant mortality rate for children born to teenage mothers is 60 per cent. higher; the rate of smoking is three times as high; teenage mothers are much less likely to breastfeed; and the rate of post-natal depression, which my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham mentioned, is three times as high. That is not to mention the legacy of low expectations, wasted talent and, often, very poor prospects for the babies. Clearly, that is not the case for every girl, but generally those are the consequences.

That is why we need to focus both on cutting the rates of teenage pregnancy across the board and on supporting those who do get pregnant in ways that do not encourage teenagers to accept the idea of pregnancy as a career choice. We need to do that for a very practical reason as well: 20 per cent. of teenage pregnancies are second or subsequent pregnancies, so there is a real prevention imperative in focusing on young people when they get pregnant. Those principles have been at the core of what we are trying to do. That involves effective prevention—including early Intervention, which was mentioned by my hon. Friend Mr. Allen, who could not stay for the end of the debate—as well as targeted support for those who get pregnant, including the fathers of those children.

Nationally, the rates have been coming down. They are not coming down as fast as I would like. None the less, we have to put the issue in context. Hon. Members compared Britain with other European countries. The fact is that this country has had higher rates of teenage pregnancy for the past 30 or 40 years. Before 1997—for the 25 years before that—there was very little difference between us and most other European countries, but during the 1980s and 1990s, those countries focused on this problem, so they have had 30 years of dealing with it. We have had only 10 years of a Government who have made that a priority. None the less, I am not complacent, because I think that it is a very important topic.

Nationally, there has been progress: 80 per cent. of local authorities areas are seeing a reduction, because they have had a national strategy that we want them to apply to their local areas. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but we do need them to take the resources and the intelligence and learning that we have given them and apply that locally. If all local authorities were performing at the level of the top 25 per cent., we would have doubled the reduction nationally and would be well on our way to the 2010 target. There is no magic bullet at local level, despite views expressed on both sides of this Chamber. We need to get local areas to drive this action as hard in every place as they are doing in the best. I am talking about a strong national strategy delivered locally, by local authorities, primary care trusts, schools and voluntary organisations together.

What that strategy has been designed to do is, first, encourage parental engagement. All the research that we have done says that young people prefer to get their advice from their parents, and the evidence shows that, when they do, they start getting involved in sexual activity later, and when they become sexually active, they are much more responsible about protection and contraception and they have much more self-respect and respect for others. That is about engaging parents through the time to talk initiative and the helpline and about schools enabling parents, and we will want to consider some of the ideas mooted today.

Secondly, as hon. Members have said, schools must take a lead. That is where young people are every day. I expect schools to take the lead in garnering consensus among parents and governing bodies that sex and relationship education in schools should be taught to a high level. We know that it is not everywhere, although we have heard excellent examples and I have seen excellent examples of schools that are making creative strides forward. We know that provision is patchy. That is why we have initiated, in the first instance, a review about how we can make delivery of such education more secure and ensure that it is of much higher quality and is delivered more consistently across the piece.

It is good that the Government are reviewing sex and relationship education—incidentally, I hope that the same will happen in Wales—but will the review allow for putting it on a statutory basis?

That is not a primary focus of the review but, as my hon. Friend knows, we are doing the review very much in conjunction with young people; the Youth Parliament was mentioned. The issue raised by my hon. Friend is not the primary focus. The review is about delivery and quality as a first step forward, but I am sure that we will be asked to consider that and we will have to consider what people say.

Nationally, we have had a number of very effective awareness campaigns, with which hon. Members may be familiar. Indeed, they have been so good that they have won awards. The campaigns called "Are you thinking" and "Want Respect? Use a condom" for older teenagers have been based on three messages. The first is delay, delay, delay, particularly for younger young people. Secondly, when young people do become sexually active, they should use protection and contraception. The third is respect yourself and respect others. Those are important cornerstones.

Youth workers and social workers are also important. The areas that have been most effective have shown that where workers across the piece feel comfortable talking to young people about sex, that is more effective. The next element is access to health services and contraception, including in schools if that is appropriate; they make that choice. Another element is addressing underlying factors such as alcohol, poverty and low aspirations—all the issues that hon. Members raised. A further element is support for teenage mothers, and not only through specialist provision. My hon. Friend Laura Moffatt mentioned children's centres and there is support for teenage fathers there.

That is the national strategy, but it depends entirely on effective delivery at local level. Where the best local authorities are doing well, they are doing spectacularly well. People can look in any region at the variation in performance. The under-18 conception rate in Barking and Dagenham is up 18 per cent.; in Hackney it is down 26 per cent. In Tameside it is up 11 per cent.; in Oldham it is down 27 per cent. In Torbay it is up 10 per cent.; in Poole it is down 23 per cent. I could go on. Some of the most deprived areas have achieved some of the most dramatic reductions: the rate is 21 per cent. down in Newham, 30 per cent. down in Thurrock and 24 per cent. down in Darlington.

Let me say where I perhaps do not agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda. He did not say this today, but he said in his written piece that he feels that reducing teenage pregnancy is an intractable problem. The evidence from the local authorities that I mentioned tells us that it is not an intractable problem and that, if we can garner senior championship from directors of children's services, chief executives of PCTs, schools and parents, we can make tremendous inroads into the problem locally. It is a question of people using the national strategy to drive progress in their area.

That strategy is making progress. It is patchy. We need to up the pace if we are to meet the 2010 targets, but, as I said, if all local authorities were performing at the standard of the best 25 per cent., we would be on our way there. There is no doubt that, apart from any other, moral imperative, the investment that we have made in reducing teenage pregnancy is cost-effective, because for every £1 spent, we are saving money further down the line in terms of consequences. Because all local areas need to grasp the challenge, I will publish again today the rates for local areas throughout the country, by region, so that hon. Members and people in those local areas can compare the best and the worst performing local authorities and, I hope, bring their support to bear to get those local authorities that could do better actually to do better and help us to make more rapid progress.