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Minister for children Beverley Hughes today welcomed figures published by the Office of National Statistics which found the number of teenage pregnancies has continued to fall.

The ONS study found that the conception rate for England and Wales in 2004 was 7.5 per 1,000 women aged between 13 and 15 years old. This compared with 8.0 per 1,000 in 2003 – a fall of six per cent.

Hughes said: “I am particularly pleased with the significant reduction in the conception rates for younger teenagers – there has now been an overall decline of 15.2 per cent in conceptions for under-16s since 1998.

“By international standards, the UK has had high rates of teenage pregnancy for 40 years,” she continued. “Today’s figures show that the government’s continued focus on this issue is having a positive effect with the rate of teenage conceptions now at the lowest point since the mid 1980s.”

The government wants to halve teenage pregnancies by 2010.