Although they have been criticised in the past, teenage magazines will be used to help educate the under-15s on the risks of sex.

The move follows annual figures revealing 8,800 girls aged 15 or younger became pregnant. About half had abortions.

Tessa Jowell: meeting family planning experts to discuss the plans

The UK Government has consulted magazine editors to help educate youngsters on the risks of under-age sex.

The Public Health Minister, Tessa Jowell, hopes the magazines - criticised in the past for being sexually explicit - will influence young readers.

The minister will outline her plans at a meeting with family planning experts on Thursday.

Professionals, meeting at the conference organised by the Family Planning Association, are calling for sexual health advice to be more widely available.

They claim that while information is on-hand for adults, there is a lack of advice for the socially disadvantaged, teenagers and older people.

Clinics and drop-in centres are closing down and this is leading to problems such as high teenage pregnancy rates.

The conference called "Promoting Equality in Sexual Health" will call for wider access to services for everyone.

A spokeswoman for the FPA said: "Inequalities in sexual health are depriving many people of access to mainstream services and impacting on their lives overall in a very negative way.

"Sexual health is determined by the political, social, economic, cultural and educational influences on our lives, and determines our ability to make decisions about healthy lifestyles."

The Public Health Minister will address the one-day event at the Royal College of Arts, London, to give an update on government plans to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies.

Latest figures show that in 1996 the number of girls under 16 getting pregnant rose to its highest level in more than 10 years.

In 1996, 9.4 girls per 1,000 aged 13-15 became pregnant, an increase of 11% on the previous year.

The government has set up four task groups to look at the issue.
 

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