GOVERNMENT attempts to reduce teenage pregnancy rates have stalled and no further progress is likely unless parents get involved with their children’s sex education, the Children’s Minister has said.

Beverley Hughes made her comments yesterday in response to the publication of official figures showing that the number of 13 to 15-year-olds becoming pregnant rose by 2.5 per cent to 8,076 between 2002 and 2003.

This is despite a £138 million government campaign, including the confidential provision of free birth control to under-16s. The figures from the Office for National Statistics show that pregnancies among under-18s rose slightly between 2002 and 2003 to 42,183, although the pregnancy rate per 1,000 girls in this age group decreased slightly. Overall there has been a drop in pregnancies to under 18s since the teenage pregnancy strategy was introduced in 1998 from 46.6 per 1,000 girls to 42.1.

Despite this, Ms Hughes conceded yesterday that the Government had reached a watershed moment in its efforts to bring down teenage pregnancies, particularly among the younger teenagers.

She said: “What has become clear is that we cannot make the deep, sustained progress we want to make particularly at that vulnerable age group without fully engaging with parents and getting them on board.”

Theresa May, the Shadow Secretary of State for the Family, said that she was amazed it had taken the Government so long to realise the importance of parental involvement.

She said: “It is astonishing that Ms Hughes should have such a Damascene conversion over the importance of parental involvement in the lives of their children, given that this Government has spent the last eight years undermining that role. Perhaps the Government have at last realised that the people who know what is best for their children are not ministers, but the parents.”

But Ms Hughes, a mother of two grown-up daughters and a son, said that she understood that it could be difficult for parents to talk to their children about sex.

Because of this the Government was offering support at Sure Start Centres and through schemes, such as the Speakeasy programme run by the fpa, formerly the Family Planning Association.

Speakeasy groups offer parents the chance to meet with others and learn the confidence and skills that they need to talk to their children about sex and sexuality in a relaxed social atmosphere.

“We cannot — and would not try to — bring up children for parents. But parents do have unique and vital contribution to make in reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and we want to help them make that contribution to the full,” Ms Hughes said.

Anne Weyman, the chief executive of the fpa, said that avoiding discussion about sex and relationships was no longer an option for parents.

“Not talking to our children about sex denies them much-needed support and gives them a negative message about sexual relationships,” she said.

Roger Ingham, the director of the Centre for Sexual Health Research at Southampton University, said that his research among 1,200 16 to 18-year-olds had found that teenagers were more likely to use contraception where they had previously spoken to their parents about sex and relationships.

Simon Blake, of the Government’s Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy, said a cultural change was needed among British parents. “As a society we need to start talking openly and calmly about sex and everyone must take responsibility for reducing teenage conception rates,” he said.

But Jan Barlow, the chief executive of Brook, the sexual health charity for young people, said that many parents will themselves have received poor sex education, if any at all, and would need help.

“Many simply do not feel they have the skills to teach their own children about sex and relationships. If we leave it to parents alone, many young people will continue to fall through the net.” she said.

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