TEENAGE pregnancy rates have more than halved in Hampshire according to new figures.

Over the last 16 years, the county has seen a 55.7 per cent reduction in teenage conception rates between 1998 to 2014, with rates steadily declining in all 11 districts of Hampshire.

In Basingstoke and Deane, the 2014 provisional teenage conception rate was 1.87 per cent per 1,000 female population aged 15 to 17.

This represents a reduction from 1998 when the figure was four per cent.

Across Hampshire, the figure was 15.9 for 2014, which is an 18.5 per cent reduction from 2013 when there were 465 conceptions in the county, compared to 377 in 2014.

Councillor Keith Mans, Hampshire County Council's executive lead member for children's services, said: "This is really good news and shows that the county council's investment in education programmes targeting young people over the years is paying off.

"Working to reduce the rate of teenage conceptions among girls aged 15-17 is a priority in the Hampshire Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP 2015-18). The focus, commitment and hard work of all the partner agencies has seen the teenage conception rate reduce year on year since 2009.

"For young people who go on to become young parents, support is available to ensure positive outcomes for them and their children."

In Hampshire, free multi-agency sex and relationship education (SRE) training is provided for all practitioners working with young people.

Parents and carers are also supported to deliver positive SRE in the family environment.

Sexual health information, advice and contraception services are provided by a specialist integrated sexual health service and access to free condoms are available from a number of trained distributors across Hampshire.

Young women can access free emergency hormonal contraception from many accredited pharmacies in Hampshire.

Cllr Mans added: "Data over the years has shown that teenage parents tend to do less well at school and are more likely to become NEETs (not in education, employment or training). This means that they often face a future of low paid jobs or unemployment. In turn, the children of teenage parents are more likely to live in poverty and are more likely to become teenage parents themselves.

"Reducing the number of teenage conceptions has been a priority for the council for many years and a lot of work has gone into identifying the most vulnerable teenagers in the county and supporting them with information so that they are able to make informed safer sex and lifestyle choices.”