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Last week's reports of a 13-year-old becoming a father rekindled the debate about teenage pregnancy. This week's Inside Out, ±«Óãtv One (East Midlands), Wednesday 18 February, 7.30pm, looks at a neighbourhood in Nottingham with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe.

Teen girls in Aspley are three times more likely to become pregnant than anywhere else in the UK. The programme reports on the task force set up to tackle the problem.

Lynsey discovered she was pregnant at 15. She explained to Inside Out's Marie Ashby that it had taken months to come to terms with the idea of being a mum.

"I think I am ready now, but not at first. But I didn't have the heart to get rid of the baby," says Lynsey.

Lynsey's mum also took time to reconcile herself to the pregnancy. She too was a teen mum and is about to become a grandma at the age of 33.

Lynsey is one of the first mums in Nottingham to be monitored by a specialist team of nurses from pregnancy until her baby is two years old.

The pilot project is called The Family Nurse Partnership Programme and means highly trained nurses develop relationships with young mums and their extended family. With the right support it is hoped teen mums can be helped to break a pattern that can repeat through generations.

In Aspley the statistics are relentless: one in eight teenagers is falling pregnant; last year there were 217 births to teenage mums. Despite years of attempts by politicians and health professionals the messages don't seem to be getting through.

Dr Peter Gates from The University of Nottingham has been researching the phenomenon of teenage pregnancy and believes the issue cannot be tackled by the sex education classes alone.

"It's about the high levels of unemployment, the low levels of qualifications; it's about the difficulty of living in the area, the high level of poverty," he says.

"It's all those factors. To be honest there's a lot of kids in Aspley who don't feel worthwhile, who don't feel there's a lot to look forward to and if that's the case why not go out and have sex? I think that's what we see happening."

The teenage pregnancy task force launched this January is chaired by Nottingham North MP Graham Allen.

"Teenage pregnancy is everybody's business," he says.

"Clearly the traditional remedies of better sex education, better contraception aren't doing the job so we're adding to that mix by going into 11-16 life skills teaching young people, well before they even think about sexual activity, about the choices they can make in life," he adds.

Most people agree there are no quick fixes, no short-term solutions. For young mums like Lynsey the choice is already made – but she hopes her baby daughter will have more opportunities than her mum and grandma.

The programme also looks at new eco towns planned for the East Midlands as well a report on Tom Tooth, who travels to Wyoming to fulfil his dream to become a rodeo rider.

Notes to Editors

Inside Out is also available online via bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands from 8.00pm, Wednesday 18 February.

LN